Stranger Things Have Happened
by Zuri-kun
Summary: A young man wakes up in Besaid with no memory of his past. He joins Yuna's Pilgrimage after saving her life, but will the appearance of Rikku help him salvage his lost past? RikkuOC YunaTidus
1. Waking Up

Hey guys. This is my first fic ever. I read these all the time and thought it'd be cool to try one of my own. This thing has been running through my head for ages, so lets just give it a shot, shall we? Reviews would be cool, but I ain't forcing anyone. No flames would be cool too. Anyways, lets get it started! '' Is thoughts and "" is speaking, and this'll go between 1st and 3rd person too.  
  
ONE TIME DISCLAIMER: I don't own FFX, and any characters, places, or events contained therein. All of those are copyright of Square Enix Inc., blah blah blah... However, I do own my character, so back off, FOOL! lol, just playing on the fool part! Review and don't try to hurt me and I'll give you things! (not really...)  
  
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Sand. All he could feel was sand. Darkness and sand. Fortunately, the darkness could be remedied rather easily. A feeble groan escaped the young man as he stirred on the beach. He managed to roll himself over, but this simple act drained him of most of his strength. With whatever power he had left within him, he cracked an eye open. The result was blindness of a different sort, as this left him staring right into the sun blazing overhead. He began to gain the feeling back in his body, which he was devoid of until now.  
  
'Where am I?' he thought to himself. He felt some of his strength returning. He slowly sat up and began to take in his surroundings.  
  
The most beautiful beach he had ever seen assaulted his senses. The water was clear enough to see straight to the bottom. Ruins of ancient buildings rested both on the cliff faces surrounding the beach and beneath the water itself in the small bay before him. A long dock stretched out running parallel to the shore to his right, and the ocean spread out beyond there to the horizon. He sat in awe of the sight before him for a moment, before realizing that he was obviously lost. In more ways than one, it would seem, for he remembered nothing. Only his name floated in his mind.  
  
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'Is this my home? Where the heck is this place?' This was all that was running through my mind at this point. I wanted to go home, but I had no idea where home was for me. I struggled to my feet and began to examine myself. My apparel was rather monotone, but at the moment I didn't really care. Black combat boots covered my feet, stopping just above the ankle. I was wearing simple black shorts that were rather loose and fell beneath the knee. Continuing up, I saw a simple black belt around my waist and a black shirt. Oddly enough, I was also wearing a traveling cloak/cape type thing that reached halfway down my calves.  
  
"Black. No surprise there", I said aloud. I saw one last thing to complete this odd ensemble – a rather large sword strapped to my back. Pulling it off, I took a look. Figured I should at least swing it around some. It was of decent length, to where it almost warranted the use of two hands. The handle was large enough to accommodate two hands if needed. Just above where the handle connected to the blade itself was a strange design in the metal. Welded right into the sword was a round chamber with six holes boring through it. The holes ran parallel to the blade, almost like they were sights, but I didn't think that would be practical. A small pin jutted back towards the handle from the area of the chamber. I couldn't figure out if this did anything, so I just assumed it was for effect. The blade was rather light for its size, but it still felt more comfortable to hold it in two hands. I went ahead and strapped it onto my back again and began to walk away from the beach.  
  
"If there's a dock here, there must be some people around. Maybe they can help me. And why am I talking to myself?" I muttered. I found a small path leading away from the beach and figured it'd be a smart idea to follow it. I found myself in a small valley. Or maybe canyon would be a better word. Walls of rock covered in vines towered up around me, but the path led through here and kept going. It was cool looking, but finding people in this natural paradise would be cooler.  
  
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He continued along the path, stunned by the beauty around him. As he rounded a curve in the cliff, he paused for a good minute to take in the scene. He drank in the waterfall pouring oceans of water right overhead, the grand view to his left as the island ended and the ocean began, the beauty of the forest around him. He remembered his current predicament, and thus continued his little trip. After crossing the second bridge, a strange sight greeted him.  
  
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A young girl stood before me just a ways up the path. Well, young was a bad way to put it. She was about my age, I guess. She wore a kimono that faded colors as it fell towards the ground and some type of fabric on her upper arms. Her brown hair fell to her shoulders, and at my angle, nearly masked her eyes. As she turned though, I got a good look at her face. Different colored eyes, one green, one blue. Interesting. Even more interesting than that was the pack of no less than ten dog-like creatures that had her surrounded.  
  
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Kind of short at the start, I know, but this felt like a good place to stop. Sorry there's no action yet, but I'll be getting there. I set some butt-kickin' action up for next time, so next chapter should be better. If you didn't get the reference, I tried my best to describe the guy's sword as a gunblade. Never played FF8 (don't hit me!) but I've always liked Squall's weapon. And I know I haven't given a name yet, but I'll get there too! I got this planned perfectly to Luca, and like 95% until Operation Mi'hien. I'm working, and I'm out of town next week, so I'll probably be a while for updates. Updates also depend on your guys' reviews. I'm not gonna update if no one cares to read this thing. I'm done for today. C-Ya! 


	2. A Few Things Remembered

Hey hey! Yup, I had time so I figured I'd get this up fast. Thanks to Dragoon Swordsman for the review. I love reviews, even if they're short y'all. I'm gonna be in more first person for a while. Third was really just for setting up. You aren't reading this anymore, are you? You're already reading the story, right? Then I'll stop boring you and get to the good stuff.  
  
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Chapter 2  
  
I froze for a second. My brain froze for longer. Luckily, my body seemed to know what to do even though my brain didn't. I had the sword unstrapped before I had made a full stride and I took off full speed for the woman. The dogs, or whatever they were, seemed apprehensive at first, but they were gaining their confidence fast. None of them, dog or woman, saw me until I was upon them.  
  
The first monster never got a look at me. A diagonal swipe as I ran by it saw to that. Small lights floated from the massive gash down its side. Considering the violence about to go down, they seemed ironically peaceful. I was distracted for a second, wondering just what they were.  
  
'_Pyreflies._' That one word managed to break through the solid wall dividing me from my memories. At least now I knew something more than my name.  
  
"Watch my back", I told the girl as I came up beside her, "and tell me if they start to come in." She nodded and turned to follow the order, but she looked rather pale. Guess she didn't think we'd make it out alive. By this point though, I realized I did remember something besides my name – how to fight. We stood back to back as I tried to take in as much as I could at once. There were ten, about what I had guessed from a distance. I stood with my sword in a two-handed grip straight out in front of me. The tip of the blade was about an inch from the ground before me.  
  
The creatures weren't as smart as they looked, and they looked really dumb. Big nasty tongues hung from their mouths, and they drooled. A lot. The first one tried a forward attack on me. My body once again seemed to react without my mind's permission. As it came in, I drew my sword back to me slightly, then as it came within range I stepped out with my right foot and laid the freak open, bottom to top. They seemed weak enough, since this one hit caused the thing to erupt into pyreflies as well. The other one standing right by the now dead dog thought I was distracted enough to try the same thing. I caught him out of the corner of my eye to the right as he was closing in. Using my left foot as pivot, I spun clockwise and smashed its jaw in with a crescent kick. Continuing the spin, I brought my sword over my head and split the next dog's head open as it came in on my left side. This left a nice hole in their circle, so I used the opportunity to grab the woman and guide her in the direction of safety. And by 'guide', I mean 'shove'. Didn't matter, she was out of harm's way. I, however, was now the object of the pack's attention, and to prove that point they re-formed their circle around me. Seven left. This could only get better.  
  
The next one came in from behind. I saw it by luck as I turned my head, and I simply continued my turn and slapped it in the head with the flat of my blade. I stabbed forward and caught its eye by chance. It must have been smarter than the rest of the pack, for it howled in agony and ran off. This distraction opened me up though. One came from behind again and managed to get on my back. The dirty little bastard then proceeded to claw the crap out me.  
  
Needless to say, I was rather upset. Yelling out in rage (and pain too, I might add), I reached back to grab it, but it slipped away and ran back to join its buddies. Now slightly doubled over, I realized it was hard work to stand up straight. At least it was with six claw wounds running down your back. The woman was saying something, but I couldn't make it out. Suddenly, I felt a cool sensation across my back. It hurt, but nowhere near as much. Reaching back, I felt where the claw marks were. Nothing there. I looked at her in surprise, but she just smiled encouragingly. Some of the color had returned to her face. She must have gotten some hope in living through this. At least she had a little faith in me. Healed and feeling better, I turned back to the matter at hand.  
  
Six left. But I didn't care right now. All I wanted was to carve up that bastard that carved _me_ up. But how to decide? All six were now bunched up to one side of me. I saw a flash of something red. The one to the far left side had crimson stains on its claws. Caught red handed. I didn't care about risks at the moment; I wanted him dead. I took a full charge with my sword over my left side. It looked like it was taunting me. I could almost swear it was grinning.  
  
'Time to wipe that grin off your face', I thought as I charged it. It crouched down in anticipation to dodge the strike. As he began to leap back, I planted my right foot, spun counterclockwise, and quite happily exacted my revenge. The next one coming in ate a sidekick as I dropped to the ground and threw it upwards. Its head snapped back and it flipped over backwards, smashing into the ground with a wet crack. Two one handed chops and the next dog was down as I returned to my feet. Two more took its place. As they charged, I rolled across the ground and sliced horizontally, laying one open from mouth to tail. The other one spun back around and charged in fury, only to be impaled by its own charge.  
  
One left. It also proved smart, as it attempted to run. Not fast enough, though. As it flew by, I took aim heaved my sword. It flipped end over end and found its mark in the thing's side. It flipped and thrashed grotesquely for a moment, then fell still as it evaporated as well. I walked over to retrieve my sword. Less blood was on it than I expected. Guess it was from the way they evaporated. I walked over to the woman.  
  
"You okay?", I asked her as I approached. She paused, staring at me for a long few seconds before responding.  
  
"How in Spira did you do that!?", she responded. Her eyes looked ready to pop right out of her head.  
  
It's funny, because inside my head, I was asking myself the exact same question. One thing was bugging me though, and I just had to ask.  
  
"What's 'Spira'?" This warranted another jaw dropping stare. "And for that matter, what were those things attacking you?" She regained her composure really quick, considering that everyone probably knew the answers to these questions.  
  
"You...really don't know?", she asked tentatively, as if she expected me to bust out laughing saying "got ya!"  
  
"No, I really don't know," I responded, maybe a little harder than I needed to. But I was lost and confused, so I guess it was to be expected.  
  
"Do you know about Sin?" I merely shook my head at this. I knew she couldn't be talking about sin, as in doing bad stuff. The fear in her voice at uttering that word tipped me off. She went pale again for a second.  
  
"What's your name?", she asked me. I responded with the only knowledge I woke up with.  
  
"Arek. And you are...?"  
  
"Yuna. Maybe...you should come with me. I might be able to help you a little," she offered. I nodded in acceptance. No way I could turn her down. I needed to know where I was. Maybe I'd remember something that could help me get back home, wherever that was. After sheathing my sword, I followed her back to her village. Yuna promised to explain everything there.  
  
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Chapter 2 is done! I stuffed a little fight in, so maybe it'll be worth reading now. Next few chapters might be a little slow, but I'll get another fight and action and good stuff soon. S.S. Liki will probably be the next good fight. Oh yeah, and Rikku will be coming in earlier here, like in the next two chapters or so. Works out for this fic better that way. Reviews are wonderful things, you know (hint hint). Maybe you should leave one (wink wink). 


	3. Many Questions

I think I rushed this a little bit, but I wanted this out of my system before I leave for my little siesta. West Virginia baby! Whitewater rafting and stuff. Anyways, this introduces Wakka and at least mentions the other guardians. I tried to pry into Arek's head a little bit here, so this is kinda slow, but it gets the descriptions and thoughts out of the way. For chronological purposes, this is like the day before Yuna goes in to get Valefor. That's all I got right now. See ya at the bottom!

BIG THANKS TO DRAGOON SWORDSMAN FOR ANOTHER REVIEW!  
  
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Chapter 3  
  
And so she told me everything. About Sin, fiends, Sinspawn, the summoners, all of it. By the time she was done I was at a loss for words. I understood everything just fine, but I couldn't believe what I was hearing. Something about it just didn't sit right with me. I wanted some space. I figured I'd take a walk to give me some time to think. I thanked Yuna for her help and exited her hut.  
  
By now, it was rather late. The sun had set already, but most of the villagers of Besaid were still out and about. Upon leaving the tent, I began to catch snippets of conversation as I passed.  
  
"You hear about him?"  
  
"Yeah, heard he killed 12 Coyotes by himself!"  
  
"No it was more than that, more like 15..."  
  
"...I heard 20..."  
  
"...cut you in half before you'd blink..."  
  
"...best fighter I've seen..."  
  
I stopped after I got to the entrance to the village. Turning slowly, I saw at least 20 people gathered outside staring at me. As I turned, they all grew silent. There was a long pause. No words, just 20 pairs of eyes watching me with interest, curiosity, maybe even a little fear. Finally, a little boy stepped forward and walked up to me, stopping about 10 feet in front of me.  
  
"...Um, Mr. Black Knight? Thank you for saving the summoner, sir..." he stuttered out. He just stood there. I didn't know what to say. I didn't do anything spectacular, I just helped her out some. Anyone else would have done the same. And what was with the "Black Knight" thing? Guess they just didn't want to bother learning my name. He was still standing there. Guess I should respond, right?  
  
"No problem. Glad I could help out." I replied blankly. Not much else to say, was there? I wanted this over fast, anyways. I felt uncomfortable with all those eyes on me. The boy's face cracked into a goofy grin and he sprinted back into the crowd. Guess I made his day. I turned and continued my walk. Maybe I could get a grip on the situation before me.  
  
'So,' I thought as I walked, 'a monster called Sin is destroying the world, killing people, and ruining lives, and the only way to stop it is to allow someone else to die? _And_ it's probably just going to come back? _And_ the person to do this is a 17-year old girl? Doesn't she want to live her life? Does she really want to throw away the rest of her life? Why does this bother me so much? Can't someone else do it? Yuna's the first friend I made here. I've only known her a few hours and yet she feels like a friend to me. So now I'm going to let a friend die? Not only let her die, but _help_ her die? What's up with that?'  
  
'And what's more, I'm still lost. I know this place is called Besaid, but does that help me any? I still don't know where I'm from, and the name of this island sure doesn't help me remember. Ugh... too many questions. I don't even know how I learned to fight like that. I've got _nothing_.'  
  
By this point, I'd made it back to the beach where I had awoken earlier that day. The stars were out now, and it made it even more beautiful, if that was even possible. The light twinkled off of the ankle- high waves lapping against the shore, and every ripple in the ocean made them dance. It was like two skies, one above and one below. The only thing distracting me from the natural beauty around me was the sight of a man bouncing a ball on his head a distance down the shore. He seemed rather good. Being dark, all I could tell from here was he either had the strangest hair I had ever seen, or someone shoved a stick into his head as a child. He must have seen me or heard my approach, since he stopped and jogged over. As he got close, I got a better look at him. His hair was pretty short everywhere but the front, and that piece was held in place by a blue bandana. Guess I was wrong about the stick. He had these weird yellow overall-type things and sandals. Man, and I thought I had strange clothes.  
  
"Wassup?" he said as he came over. "I'm Wakka, good to meet you." We shook hands. "Who are you, and where you come from, ya?"  
  
"I'm Arek. Nice to meet you too. Don't know where I'm from." Figured I'd at least be honest with the guy, even if it was a little weird to not know where you're from.  
  
"Oh yeah... You that new guy, ya? Yuna told me 'bout you. Da 'Black Knight', right?"  
  
I decided to brush off that last part. Apparently my new 'nickname', which I never agreed to, was spreading. "You know Yuna?"  
  
"Of course I know her, brudda! We've been friends for ages!" he exclaimed, slapping me on the back. He was certainly outspoken. Seemed rather outgoing too, or maybe I'm just imagining things. "You know, you'd make a good guardian, ya? You seem like you know how to fight."  
  
"Guardian?" Yuna had touched on this, but she didn't get into details.  
  
"Guardians protect the summoners on the way to Zanarkand. Me and Lulu are Yuna's guardians. Don't know if you met Lu yet. She's alright once you get to know her, ya? Kimahri Ronso is anudder guardian, but he doesn't talk much, ya know? We keep our summoner safe 'til... the end, ya." He got real quiet on the last part. If he was such a friend, why was he leading her to her death?  
  
"Anyways, I'm headin' back to the village, ya? You comin', or you gonna stay here for a bit?" He recovered fast from his quiet spell. Guess he didn't want to think about it much. Not that I blame him.  
  
"You go ahead and go. I'll be back in a little while. The fiends here aren't anything I can't handle." I still wanted some time to myself, even though I had run out of stuff to think about.  
  
"You got that right, brudda! You come on back when you're ready, ya?" He slapped me on the back again and left. Guess saving Yuna left an impression on him or something. Either that or he was this way with everyone. Wow... now _that's_ a scary thought.  
  
I continued my walk towards the dock. I ended up finding something else to think about – being a guardian. Maybe I could do it until I saw something that jarred a memory. I didn't feel right about helping someone to her death, especially a friend... well, more like acquaintance. We just met and we've had one conversation. Not exactly friend qualifications, but whatever. I'd lend her my help until I could find out who I was.  
  
I had reached the dock by now. The water was calmer over here. Looking into it I could see my reflection. Realizing I hadn't even seen my own face yet, I knelt down and peered into my own face bouncing back up at me.  
  
At least I looked good. A strong jawline, but not too strong, good shape to my face. If I was in a different situation, I bet I'd be I chick magnet. My hair was a medium shade of brown, which lay pretty normal against my head except at the front, where it jutted forward about 3 inches on the left side of my face. It curved down slightly, but not to where it obstructed my vision too much. Looking up, I realized I could see that part of my hair the whole time. Must have never noticed because I was preoccupied with other stuff. Being lost, fighting, trying to figure out this world I can't remember... I definitely think hair comes in _after_ all that. Continuing my examination, I looked deep into the eyes that shone at me from the water.  
  
Green swirls reflected back to my waiting eyes. 'Well, at least my eyes are cool', I thought to myself. Done thinking and examining myself, I stood back up and headed for Besaid. I had made my decision about being a guardian. I had to ask Yuna something.  
  
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Yet another plot twist! Arek's eyes... green swirls equals what guys? It plays in, but I don't know whether or not Rikku knows Arek. I gotta feel that one out. And the only reason Wakka didn't kill Arek for his heritage was because it was dark out and he wouldn't be able to see his eyes that well. Is Wakka in character enough? I tried, but I don't know how I did. And Tidus will be in the next chapter, and it'll hopefully be longer. And Arek isn't modeled after me, at least in looks. I'm no chick magnet, people. Just your average guy. PLEASE REVIEW!!! C-ya guys later!


	4. Departure

Thanks again to Dragoon Swordsman for staying with me on this. I really appreciate it! One big event is different towards the end here, but for the most part this chapter sticks very well to the storyline. I'll let you read now! And please review for me guys. I've got one fan that I know of, but if you read this, just tell me what you think. I'd be super appreciative.  
  
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Chapter 4  
  
The walk back went pretty fast, even though I had little on my mind to take up the time. There were few signs of fiends around, which helped as well. Only a Condor attempted to slow me down. As it dropped towards me, I did a diving roll, unsheathing my sword at the same time, then spun and lopped its head clean off while its beak was stuck in the ground from its attack. I continued walking, but stopped after I had gone a few feet. How the heck did I learn to move like that?  
  
By the time I got back to Besaid, it was really late. I stopped by Yuna's hut, hoping to find her there. I'd just wake her up, ask her if she'd have me as a guardian, then go up to the lodge and rest for the remainder of the night. Upon stepping through the flap to her hut however, I discovered no one there. Where would she be at this hour? A little concerned, I left Yuna's hut with the intentions of finding her. Upon stepping out of the hut, I was greeted by a person I didn't know. She looked a few years older than me, and was also dressed in all black. She had a black dress held together with uncountable belts in the front. It was strapless, and she looked about ready to fall out of it. Her black hair covered one of her eyes. I couldn't tell the color of the other one in the low light, but it looked to be a blood red color. The rest of her hair was held up in a bun with four ornamented sticks on top of her head, with several braids falling down behind her.  
  
"I assume you're looking for the Lady Yuna? Might I ask why you're snooping around in her home?" she asked evenly. Even though she didn't raise her voice, there was an authority in it that would have seriously frightened me if I didn't have a good reason to be there.  
  
"Umm... I'm a friend of Yuna's. I was wondering where she is."  
  
"If you were her friend I'd know who you are. What's your name?" she asked me. Wow. If I caught her bad side, I'd hate to see what would happen.  
  
"I'm Arek. I met Yuna earlier and helped her with some fiends that were about to attack her."  
  
"Ah, yes. The 'Black Knight', was it? I must thank you for your help. Yuna shouldn't wander by herself like that. Glad you were there to help her. I'm Lulu, one of Yuna's guardians." She said, lightening her tone slightly. Wakka was right; she seemed okay once you talked with her. "What did you need to talk with Yuna about?"  
  
"I needed to ask her something. I'd like to speak to her about it first, if you don't mind," I replied. I figured it'd be best if I spoke with Yuna on it first. Lulu would find out about it soon enough, anyways.  
  
"Very well, but she's gone into the Cloister of Trials. She's praying to the Fayth as we speak. Only guardians are allowed in, so perhaps it can wait until she's done?"  
  
I was a little discouraged, seeing as I wanted to ask now, but there was no sense in being so impatient over it. I'd sleep and discuss it with Yuna when she was finished. "Sounds good. I'll speak with her tomorrow."  
  
"Ok. I'm going back into the temple to wait. Perhaps you should get some rest." It was like she read my mind.  
  
"I'll go do that. Thanks for your help." I said as I began to move towards the lodge. Lulu nodded and followed, continuing to the temple as I turned and stepped inside the lodge. She seemed like a good person. I could tell she was strong. She seemed to radiate inner strength and confidence. Yuna was well protected with people like Lulu around her. Nobody inside the lodge was awake this late. Even the man behind the desk had nodded off. I stepped up and tapped lightly on the desk. After receiving no response, I tapped lightly on his head, which gave me results. He jumped awake and stared at me stupidly. Guess he was still half asleep. After shaking it off, he gave me a bed for the night. I paid for it with some of the money I had received while fighting those fiends. Where fiends get money, I'll never know, but it was there when their corpses evaporated, so I wasn't going to complain. Stripping off my cloak and shirt, I collapsed on the bed. I didn't think I'd sleep too well, but the events of the day had finally caught up with me, and I drifted off within minutes.  
  
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I awoke the next morning to find all the beds around me empty. Guess everyone else had already gotten up. I threw my shirt and cloak on and stepped outside of the sleeping area and into the lobby. Two guys were there, but were involved in conversation, so I didn't bother them. I caught the word "Crusaders" as I passed by. One seemed younger than me, and the other was older with red hair. Aside from those two guys, no one else was in the building. Even the guy who was behind the counter had left. I stepped outside into the sun. For being so early, it sure was bright outside. I stopped a passerby and asked for the time.  
  
"It's a little after noon."  
  
Wow. I had slept _late_. I figured Yuna would be back by now, but stopping by her hut proved me wrong. Guess it took a while to talk with the Fayth. I had nothing to do, so I figured I'd go to the beach for a bit. I was bored, so it made sense to at least be bored with nice scenery. As I moved towards the exit to town, two figures stepped out from behind a hut. One I knew, one I didn't. I already knew Wakka. The new guy looked about as old as me, and was about as tall, but he had spiky blond hair. He wore a yellow half jacket and overalls. His shorts stopped at different lengths, with one leg stopping just below the knee and one stopping just above. The longer pant leg had a stylized 'J' on it, and he wore a necklace bearing the same symbol. He had some sort of shoulder armor and a thick glove on his left arm, with a thinner glove on his right hand. He looked slightly confused and overwhelmed at the moment. He just stared at me. Evidently he thought my clothes were as weird as I thought his were. Wakka spoke up as soon as he saw me.  
  
"Yo Arek! How ya been brudda! This is another new guy, ya? His name's Tidus." Wakka seemed in an even better mood than the last time I saw him. Wonder what had happened.  
  
Tidus seemed to be over my appearance, for he stuck out his hand. "Hey. Nice to meet you. Aren't you hot wearing that thing in a place like this?"  
  
I shook his hand, brushing off the comment. He was even more outspoken than Wakka, maybe too much so. But he seemed like a nice guy, so whatever. "It's not so bad. I don't get real hot easily, I guess."  
  
Before Tidus could continue with an interrogation, Wakka spoke up again. "Arek, I got somethin' to ask you, ya? The boys are still down on the beach practicin' Blitzball. Could you maybe escort 'em back? I don't think fiends'd be a problem for them, but a little help never hurts, ya know?"  
  
I had nothing better to do, so I accepted. As I walked out of town, I heard Wakka say something about going to the temple to Tidus. I made a mental note to ask Wakka about Blitzball later. Yuna never explained it to me before. I made good time to the beach, and got the opportunity to see a little Blitzball first hand.  
  
The team was in the water running drills, I guess. It seemed like a cool sport from what little I saw of it. The team ran several drills, so by the time they wrapped it up I had at least a slight idea of how the game was played. They finished in about an hour, and so back we went. I stayed out a little to the front to keep watch, but there was nothing to see. We had no problems on the trip back, which was nice. It wasn't as easy for Wakka, though. Evidently Tidus had busted into the temple, where he wasn't supposed to go. Most of the town seemed ticked at this, but I really didn't see the problem. I wasn't a 'Yevonite', as Yuna had called the people of her faith, so it didn't matter to me. I don't know if I was and forgot, or never was, but I felt no connection to the religion, and I wasn't going to bother to make a connection. Yuna had finally finished in the temple, but upon asking Lulu, I discovered she was really worn out. No reason to bug her now. I'd wait til later.  
  
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I passed the day killing fiends. I was bored and they were there, so you do the math. It was night now, and everyone was gathering around the fire to celebrate the birth of a new summoner. Wakka said the Aeon was amazing. Pity I wasn't there to see it.  
  
Tidus had really pissed the villagers off with his stunt earlier in the day, so he only had a few seconds to speak with Yuna before he was driven off. I didn't get the cold shoulder, so I had a chance to plead my case. I stepped in front of her as she was playing with a little girl and chatting with an elderly lady. I coughed a slightly to get her attention.  
  
"Yes?" she asked tentatively.  
  
"Yuna, can I ask you something?" I began. I got no further before the old lady cut in.  
  
"That's 'Lady Yuna' to you, young man!"  
  
"No, its okay, we know each other," she laughed, turning to me, "Now what did you want to ask me?"  
  
"I'd like to be your guardian," I stated simply. I saw no reason to dance around the point or to sugarcoat it.  
  
She froze for half a second, then broke into a smile. "I'd like that. But why?"  
  
"I don't know where I'm from. Maybe I can jar a memory."  
  
She paused in thought for a moment. "I accept, but let me clear it with my other guardians." She got up and walked over to Lulu and Wakka. It appeared Lulu was busy chewing Wakka out over something. A look of relief washed over Wakka's face as Yuna interrupted them. I couldn't hear the conversation from where I was standing, but I figured out what was going on easy enough. Yuna's back was to me. I saw the other two look around her, and watched their eyes grow wide. Wakka split into and ape- like grin, and even Lulu smiled. After a few more minutes Yuna returned.  
  
"We'd love to have you" was her response.  
  
"Great. I'm going to bed. Send Wakka in to get me up when its time to leave." I turned to go, but stopped looked back. "Oh, and Yuna? Thanks."  
  
I fell asleep that night as fast as before, even knowing that our journey began tomorrow.  
  
-------  
  
A thump on the head awoke me the next morning. I shot up from my bed, and unfortunately my head smashed into something hard. I dropped right back onto the bed, grasping my forehead and moaning. Regaining my composure after a few seconds, I sat back up to see what I hit. Wakka was laying on the floor towards the end of my bed, grabbing his own head and saying "son of a Shoopuf!" over and over. At least I got him back. Once he picked himself off the floor, we headed outside. Lulu and Tidus were standing in the center of town, awaiting us. Wakka was still holding his head. Guess he got the worst end of the deal.  
  
"Wakka, what did you do now?" Lulu said.  
  
"It's nothing, ya?" he grunted out in reply. Tidus started laughing.  
  
"Looks like you're gonna have a lump, Wakka!" he said, still chuckling.  
  
"I'll get you for that, ya!"  
  
And so Yuna found us like that, with Wakka chasing Tidus, Tidus running and laughing, Lulu shaking her head in exasperation, and me just staring. It was quite a sight, though.  
  
Yuna left her luggage after being chastised by Lulu, and we were off. It was obvious Tidus didn't know the ropes when it came to fighting. He just tried to hit anything that moved. We made it to the cliff overlooking the town. Wakka and Yuna prayed. Lulu probably was too, just not doing the motions, since she had her eyes closed and was muttering real quiet. Tidus and I stood back and watched.  
  
"Why aren't you praying?" he asked me.  
  
"I don't believe in Yevon," I responded. I didn't know why, I just didn't.  
  
"Any reason?"  
  
"Not really. Just not my thing, I guess." This satisfied him, for he nodded and returned to watching. Now it was my turn to ask the questions.  
  
"I overheard Wakka say you're from Zanarkand. I also heard that city's been destroyed for a thousand years." It wasn't a question, but I knew I'd get a response from him.  
  
His eyes grew distant at this, and he just stood there a second, deep in thought. "I don't know what to think right now. I just want to get back." I nodded. We had one thing in common – we were both out of place here. The others were done, so we moved on. Tidus and I walked ahead of the rest until we got to the ruins that arched over the path. A large blue thing jumped down at Tidus. It looked like it was wearing a loincloth with animal fur on its chest and feathers lining its shoulder blades. It pulled out a long spear and hurled itself at Tidus.  
  
They clashed weapons a few times before I could even get close. Before I could defend Tidus in any way, I heard a call of "that's enough!" from behind me. The others had caught up, and to my surprise, the blue creature stood down. Yuna explained.  
  
"That's Kimahri Ronso. Sometimes we don't understand him either, but he's protected me since I was a child." Kimahri stared right into my eyes from his new position a little behind Yuna. There was intelligence in his eyes, and a lot of it. It was though he was challenging me just by his stare. After looking me over, he nodded almost imperceptibly and led the way up the path. I could see the reason Yuna and the rest didn't understand him sometimes.  
  
We continued to the beach, only to find a small crowd had already gathered. We however, weren't the focus of their attention. A large metallic ship was parked along the dock, and the people weren't too happy about it. I guess this wasn't the ship we were supposed to take. We ran out the dock, Wakka cursing and grumbling under his breath. I fell back a little and asked Lulu for and explanation.  
  
"This is an Al Bhed ship. They don't follow Yevon's teachings. They might give us some trouble."  
  
As we approached, we saw a lone figure already standing on the dock. She was rather short, more so than Yuna, with an orange tank top and green shorts. A belt hung loosely around her waist, and a pouch for items was on her right leg. She had rather tall boots on that came up almost to her knees. Two blue tails attached to the back of her shirt, and she had goggles that lay around her neck. She wore gloves, one of them fingerless with a metallic claw on the back of her hand. Her blond hair was up in a messy bun with two tails hanging down. She couldn't have been more than fifteen. She spoke up as we approached.  
  
"Hiya! I'm Rikku! Nice to meet ya!" she chirped. She certainly seemed to have energy. "I'm here because TIDUS?!"  
  
"Rikku? Wow, how have you been?" Tidus knew her, huh? Wonder how they met. "Guys, Rikku helped me when I first woke up. I almost got eaten by a fiend, but she busted in and saved me!"  
  
"Yup! Whatever would you do without me?" she said as dramatically as possible. Wakka saw through this and cut to the chase.  
  
"What in Yevon's name are you dirty Al Bhed doing here? What are you trying to do, bring Sin down on us?"  
  
"What are you talking about?"  
  
"You don't follow the teachings! Sin's all your fault! You use the Forbidden Machina!"  
  
"Sin isn't our fault! We want to get rid of it too, you know! And what's more... hey, you're Al Bhed too?" she exclaimed, staring right at me. I looked at her questioningly for a second.  
  
"I am?" Wakka grabbed my shoulder and spun me around. Looking into my eyes, a look of horror grew on his face. He staggered back as if he'd been struck.  
  
"YOU...YOUYOUYOU... how...why...ya?" He was at a total loss for words. Rikku, looking pretty happy she got Wakka to shut up, returned to the matter at hand.  
  
"Umm... Yuna?", she asked, searching the party until she found who she assumed to be the summoner. Yuna nodded her head, so Rikku continued, "I just wanted to know if I could beyourguardiancuzyoualreadyhaveanalbhedguardian and I really want to help!" she rushed out. Yuna stared at her for a second, trying to compute what Rikku just said. She got it after a second, and her eyes went wide in shock.  
  
"You...want to be my guardian? But why?"  
  
"I TOLD you, the Al Bhed want to get rid of Sin too! If you have an Al Bhed guardian... well, two now... it'll show everyone that we really aren't so bad!"  
  
Wakka seemed to finally recover his voice. "'Really aren't so bad?' Yeah right! You Al Bheds...are... ARGH!! I can't even talk right now, ya!" He said, storming aboard the S.S. Liki. During our little chat, the ship we were supposed to take showed up, and with many curses from the captain, forced the Al Bhed ship to leave.  
  
Rikku pressed her point even further. "Plus, my ride just left. You wouldn't just leave me here, would you Yuna?" She gave the puppy eyes. "Please???"  
  
"Well, it would show that the Al Bhed really do want to help, and I can't just leave you here... Are you sure you want to do this?", Yuna asked her.  
  
"100 percent! So can I?"  
  
"Welcome to the group, Guardian Rikku!" Yuna said, breaking into a smile. Rikku jumped around squealing, then tackle-hugged Yuna, knocking her back a few steps. While she was hugging her, she whispered something to Yuna. Yuna froze and pulled away. "Really?", she asked quietly. Rikku nodded in reply. Whatever it was about, they dropped it and boarded the ship. After waving goodbyes, we finally pulled away from Besaid.  
  
I headed for the back of the ship as the island faded away. The ride would take a bit, but I wanted to have a good view of the ocean anyways. Wakka was avoiding me. I tried to talk with him, but it was no good. He just scowled and turned away, muttering. I'd give him time to deal with it. Hell, I needed time to deal with it myself. I had just discovered I was a member of a race everyone hated. I've had quite and interesting few days. I was staring out into the sea when someone walked up next to me. I turned to see who it was. It was Rikku.  
  
"Hey Arek."  
  
"How do you know my name?"  
  
"Yuna told me a little about you. You really don't remember anything?"  
  
"Can't say that I do. Sorry."  
  
"What's up with your clothes?", she asked, eying my apparel. "No self respecting Al Bhed would be caught dead dressed like that!"  
  
"So sorry. I woke up like this, you know."  
  
"I got a deal for you. When we get to Luca, I'm gonna take you shopping! We'll get something better for you, I guarantee it!"  
  
I stared at her. "These are just fine, thanks."  
  
"Oh no they're not! We're going shopping for you, Mister!"  
  
I wondered why she was being so friendly. Guess it was because everyone else was skittish of the Al Bhed. It then came to my attention that they'd be quite nervous about _me_ too. Better not turn away what might end up being my only friend. "Ok, but you're paying." I said, cracking into the first smile since this ordeal had started.  
  
Her grin stretched from ear to ear and she sped off, saying she had to tell 'Yunie'. Whatever. At least I had made a friend now. Yes, a real friend. Maybe this wouldn't be so bad after all. Right about then a huge impact rocked the ship. A mottled gray fin rose from the water, accompanied by screams from the crewmen.  
  
"SIN!!!"  
  
----------------  
  
I can't believe how long this look to do! I typed for like 4 hours straight! I wanted this one out too before I left, so there you have it. Rikku's gonna explain herself to Arek a little more in the next chapter. I know she's a little off wanting to help Yuna to her death, but all will be explained! I'm gonna stop typing now, cuz my hands hurt from typing for so long. I'm gonna go hang at Steak n Shake for a while tonight with my friends. Good times. Review, and I'll see you guys in a week when I get back from vacation! 


	5. Arriving at Kilika

Ok, vacation's done! Good to be back. Thanks to Dragoon Swordsman, Glaciours, Solid Shark, and Articunokel for reviewing. Articunokel, in response to your comment, I've always seen Yuna as someone who'll go way out of her way to help people out. That's why she was a summoner anyways, right? I figured if she felt having an Al Bhed guardian would help the Al Bhed people out by boosting their reputation, she'd probably do it without thinking twice. She seems like a good person in that respect. Now, my droning is done, so let's get to the good part!  
  
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Chapter 5  
  
Tidal waves from the fin breaching the surface rose high enough to engulf the boat. If this was Sin, I was beginning to understand why everyone feared it so much. I drew my weapon and charged for the front of the boat half crouched. If another wave, or Sin itself, struck us, I didn't want to have a face-to-face meeting with the creature in the water. The sight greeting me at the front of the ship was a little surprising. The harpoon guns had us actually attached to the huge fin rising from the sea. Not a bright idea in my opinion. Yuna stood in the middle of the deck, her guardians and Tidus surrounding her. I immediately took a position in the front, sword at the ready. Not that it would be of any help. I couldn't hit the fin with my sword if my life depended on it. And unfortunately, it seemed as though my life _did_ depend on it right now. My mind raced to come up with a plan. I really wasn't of much help at the moment. Suddenly, tiny projectiles flew from the fin and made their way towards us. They embedded themselves into the deck, then opened up to reveal a bunch of spiny little monsters. There were already like ten on deck, and more were coming fast. Sinscales, as Yuna had explained to me. Smallest of the Sinspawn. Looks like I had a use now after all.  
  
"Anyone who can get the fin, do it! The rest of us will get these guys!" I yelled out. The others nodded in agreement, even Wakka. Guess he was over his hatred of me for the moment. There was a short pause, during which I guess everyone was thinking out his or her own strategy. As if on cue, we all sprung into action at the same time. Tidus and I charged forwards and began slashing at any small, blue, Sinscale- looking thing that moved. Rikku was dipping and ducking through the mass of monsters on the deck, stabbing and slashing with her claw. I caught a glimpse of her out of the corner of my eye. She was dodging their advances quite well. They couldn't touch her. Good thing. One less person to worry about at the moment. Wakka and Lulu were pounding away at the fin itself, Wakka with his blitzball and Lulu with assorted spells. Kimahri was tearing through the mass of scales with wide swipes of his spear, stopping occasionally to attack the fin itself. Evidently he was able to siphon life out of it. A glyph formed under Yuna. Moments later, Valefor fell from the sky, and after receiving instructions from Yuna, tore off through the air and began laying into the fin with its claws. I had paused to take all this, and I now returned to the matter at hand. At least eight Sinscales had surrounded me and Tidus as we stood back to back in the middle of the deck. This would get good. Suddenly, a tiny cloud formed above us, and lightning began to rain down on the scales. I shielded my eyes from the flashes, opening them to see a swarm of pyreflies drifting off into nothing and Rikku crouched down and shaking. She stood up and looked at both of us.  
  
"Lightning gem! My last one, unfortunately..."  
  
"What did you just do, use some damn machina!?" Wakka, of course.  
  
"It was an item, oui sayhea!" Rikku would have continued, but another quake rocked through the ship. A crewman ran by screaming "We're gonna be pulled under!" I looked towards the fin. Valefor was falling from the sky, covered in Sinscales. Wakka and Lulu weren't doing enough damage. At this rate, we really would be pulled under. Rikku stepped forward.  
  
"If we hit it with this, we can stop that fin in its tracks!" She held up a small glowing orb. I guess that's what caused her lightning storm.  
  
"I thought you were out of those", I pointed out.  
  
"That was lightning silly! This one's a fire gem! Now we just need someone with a good arm..." At this point all eyes fell on Wakka. As the realization dawned on him, he began to babble angrily.  
  
"No way am I gonna use one of those machina, ya! Dey's forbidden! I'm not about to get excommunicated because of you damn Al Bhed!"  
  
I'd had enough. I stepped up and began yelling. "You IDIOT! This is NOT a machina! It's an item! Nothing more! And you really don't have a choice right now! If you don't hit _that_ with _this_, we all die! Including your summoner! You say you're a guardian, so prove it!"  
  
He was stunned. But he listened. After the gem created a series of explosions on the fin, it disconnected from the harpoons and slid beneath the surface of the sea. The boat rocked, almost tipping over. The ship held together, but the impact was enough to knock Tidus into the sea. Wakka immediately dove over the edge to help him. Rikku stood there for a second, then shrugged and pulled her goggles up over her eyes. She ran and planted on the railing of the ship, then back flipped over the edge, barely making a splash. Not bad. All three emerged a few minutes later. Evidently there was a big Sinspawn down there that needed to be taken care of.  
  
Everything went back to normal for the rest of the trip. I tried to congratulate Wakka on his throw, but he just turned and stormed off. Whatever. Everyone else seemed to be avoiding me a little bit. Lulu was talking with Wakka, and although Tidus and Yuna were speaking to me, they both seemed a little distant. Maybe they just wanted some time to themselves, but it felt more like they wanted me to go. Must have frightened everyone a little with my outburst earlier. I went back to the back of the ship and stared off into the distance. It was getting late. The sun had already set, and the stars were coming out of hiding. I heard footsteps behind me. After a few seconds of tense silence, Rikku spoke up.  
  
"Thanks for dealing with Wakka. He doesn't see I care about Yunie. I don't want to see her, you know..."  
  
"Then why are you escorting her to her death?"  
  
"Yunie's... my cousin, if you didn't know. If I can, I want to convince her to stop. I can't let her die..." She came and leaned on the rail next to me. A tear was sliding down her cheek. Quiet overtook us yet again. After a few moments I spoke.  
  
"You fought great today. I was surprised. Where'd you learn to move like that?"  
  
She smiled. "I worked on a salvage crew for a few years, you know. Lotsa fiends to beat up. You fought great too."  
  
"Thanks. Where are we going now?"  
  
"Yunie said we're going to Kilika. But I think I heard the crew say that's where Sin was headed. There might not be much left."  
  
This was depressing. I had to lighten the mood. "So I guess that means you can't take me shopping early, right?"  
  
She grinned. "Nope, guess I can't huh? To make up for it you gotta lose that cloak buddy! You'd look better without it, you know!"  
  
"No way! I like this cloak!" I said, grinning in return. When Rikku was being herself, you couldn't be sad around her.  
  
"I don't care! You're gonna lose it whether you like it or not!"  
  
"Yes MOM!" We both cracked up laughing at this. The first time I've smiled and laughed since coming to have been because of Rikku. Its good to have a friend. We joked for a while longer. I had no one to joke around with up to this point. Maybe Rikku could help me come out of my shell a little bit. After another hour or two we decided to head to bed. I collapsed in my room below deck and threw off my cloak and shirt. The ship was large enough that I could have my own room. I fell into bed and was out almost as soon as my head hit the pillow. I seem to have a history of doing that.  
  
-----  
  
I woke up the next morning missing something. Namely my cloak. I put my shirt on and went up on deck. A crowd was gathered at the front of the ship. Making my way up there, I saw something I never expected to see.  
  
Rikku was parading around in the middle of the group, wearing my cloak. She was prancing around and posing. Everyone was laughing. Even Lulu, just a little bit. I even caught a smile tugging at Wakka's mouth. As people caught notice of me, they immediately stopped laughing and stepped aside. Guess they thought hell was coming on two legs. In a moment I was to the middle of the crowd as well. Rikku must have noticed the dead silence, for she turned around. Catching sight of me standing there, her face dropped. She stood there for a moment, then grinned sheepishly.  
  
"Ummm... Hi!" I stood there for a moment with a scowl and my arms crossed, then said something I bet no one expected.  
  
"Young lady, you give me that cloak right now then go straight to your room!" My straight face faltered and a small smile slowly replaced it.  
  
"Yes DAD!" she responded. Everyone thought we were nuts the way we laughed after that.  
  
-----  
  
We arrived in Kilika by late morning. The town was a mess. Many people had died. The only survivors were the ones lucky enough to get off the docks. Yuna agreed to do a sending, whatever that was. It was something she had never explained, so I figured I'd ask later when I had the time. At the moment, the villagers needed help securing the docks and rebuilding. We'd never get the town back to the way it was during our short stay, but we could at least try to keep it from falling apart further. The townspeople were happy to have the 'Black Knight' helping out in their town. Guess my reputation as a fighter was spreading faster than I thought.  
  
By evening Wakka, Tidus, Kimahri, the Aurochs and I had managed to secure the damaged walkways and repair the ones that had collapsed. I spent most of the time working by myself or with Tidus. No one else was interested in talking to the Al Bhed. The townspeople, oddly enough, seemed to discard this knowledge. Maybe they didn't know, or maybe they didn't care. I wasn't worried about it at the moment. I wondered where the girls had gone off to. They disappeared earlier in the day and none of the guys had seen them since. I figured we'd see them at this sending thing, so I left it at that.  
  
The sending itself was... different. I guess that's the only way to explain it. I didn't see it up close. I was still dealing with a section of docks that needed to be reinforced. Lots of people would be going over it since the other routes were still down, so it had to be extra strong. I didn't know why pyreflies were rising from the water around Yuna while she danced. It gave me a sick feeling in my stomach though, like my stomach was in my throat. I knew it wasn't a joyous event. I saw a silhouette in the crowd begin moving in my direction. It was Rikku.  
  
"Still working? You don't stop, do you?" she said while grinning widely.  
  
"Figured I'd finish what I started. So, what's the sending for?"  
  
She grew serious again. "A sending makes sure the souls of the dead get to the Farplane where they can rest in peace. The pyreflies are the souls of the people, or at least that's what everyone says. If they aren't sent, they can turn into fiends." Guess this explained why fiends burst into pyreflies. I never knew what the little things were, I only knew what they were called. It was a really sobering thought, and I didn't feel like thinking about it at the time. So I went back to hammering on the deck. To my surprise, Rikku grabbed a spare hammer and joined in. We worked until after sunset, never saying another word. Guess she had stuff on her mind too. We were sent to bed by Wakka, of all people. He mumbled something about needing our strength for tomorrow and sped off. It was an improvement; at least he was speaking with us now.  
  
-----  
  
I awoke about the same time as the others the next day. Guess my body was getting used to being up early. We headed across the docks and into the woods outside the village. The temple was up the mountain. We took care of the fiends while the Aurochs followed behind us. They were going to pray for victory. After destroying a small bush looking fiend, Rikku's eyes went wide as she saw my sword. She ran over to me and snatched it out of my hand.  
  
"Hey! What gives?"  
  
"Oh hush! You'll get it back! I just wanna see something is all." She was looking intently at the handle of my sword. After a few seconds, she squealed in delight, grabbing me and pulling me closer to the sight. "Look at this!" she exclaimed while pointing to the inscription on the sword handle.  
  
SUTAM 57-C KIHPMYTA YMM-BINBUCA LMUCA LUSPYD FAYBUH  
  
"Do you have any idea what this means?" she nearly screamed out. Oddly enough, I did.  
  
"Uh, yeah. It reads: Model 57-S Gunblade All-Purpose Close Combat Weapon."  
  
Her jaw dropped. "I didn't think you remembered anything! So how do you know Al Bhed still?"  
  
"Of course I knew my language. Didn't know that it was _my_ language 'til now though. I wasn't sure if anyone else knew it, so I kept it quiet."  
  
She giggled at this for some reason. "Well... more important right now is what I can do with your sword. Its Al Bhed design, and we made it so you can adapt a little to what you're fighting. Here, watch this!" She dug into her pockets and produced two of the little orbs she had used on the S.S. Liki. She inserted them into two of the 'gun' chambers on my sword. The chambers glowed a vibrant orange, which then spread like snakes down the blade. The glow faded, leaving lightly pulsating vines of orange flowing down the sword. I stared at her for an explanation.  
  
"Those plant things don't like fire, ya know? So I just gave your sword the Firestrike ability! What's sooo cool is you can pull the gems back out when you're done with 'em!" Her grin stretched wider than I thought possible. Guess she was proud of herself.  
  
"Nice. Thanks Rikku!" I sheathed my Gunblade and we both continued to the bridge where the others had stopped. They turned around to us as we showed up. Lulu was the one to explain our situation.  
  
"We have a rather large fiend ahead. We can go around, or we can fight. We've already voted. What are your thoughts?"  
  
I was surprised they wanted our input. But it was a good surprise. Looking around the group, I saw a massive plant screeching and swinging its vines around in the next clearing. It should be easy enough with my new sword, right? "I say we go for it."  
  
"Me too!" I was surprised Rikku said that.  
  
"Good. It's unanimous then. We fight." Lulu said. Looks like everyone would have went in regardless of what we said. And so, having decided, we drew our weapons and charged.  
  
Tidus and I took the lead, splitting as we got to the beast and distracting it from the sides. Lulu stood almost outside of the Ochu's reach, flinging fire spells at it as fast as she could. Kimahri charged in, but was slapped back by a vine. His flight was interrupted by a tree. Yuna sped over to him to heal him. In the meantime, Tidus and I danced in and out of the vines, slashing at the body whenever we could. The vines were almost impossible to hit, so we didn't bother trying. My sword sunk deep, causing the fiend to scream with every hit. Rikku did a good job with it. Speaking of Rikku, she was attacking quite well also. She couldn't hit nearly as hard, but she was dodging just fine. At least she was, until a vine caught her dead across the torso. She didn't even scream, just flew backwards about 20 feet and lay still. My heart stopped.  
  
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Cliffhanger! I wasn't going to stop here, but it felt like a good place. I'll finish the Kilika time later. Actually, I'll start on it right now. I'm working on this as much as I can. I'm trying to show how Rikku is pulling Arek out of his shell. Is it going too fast, too slow, just right? Review and tell me what you think of the way everything's moving. I'll try to have the next chapter done by the end of the week, the weekend at the latest. Your reviews will get it to be done faster! C-ya guys around! 


	6. Leaving Kilika

I tried to get started on this fast, cuz I didn't want to leave you guys hanging! I want to thank all my reviewers, Glaciours, Dragoon Swordsman, Solid Shark, Dragon and Sword Master, and Dragon46. Some of you guys had specific comments, so I'll answer them here. See you at the bottom!  
  
Glaciours – I totally didn't try to make Arek look like Squall! If that's what you see, it wasn't on purpose! But Squall's cool, so I guess I can't complain if Arek seems a little like him. His clothes are gonna change soon anyways. Rikku's taking him shopping, remember?  
  
Dragon and Sword Master – Take a look at chapter 1. Arek's clothes are all black. The people of Besaid gave him the nickname 'Black Knight' after fighting off the Coyote pack that almost ate Yuna. His reputation just seems to spread, I guess. And stuff in this chapter and a little later will only make it spread more...  
  
----------------  
  
Yuna screamed. Tidus, Wakka, and Lulu gasped in surprise. I just went numb. With Lord Ochu standing right over me, I couldn't move.  
  
'_Rikku's dead_' was playing on loop in my brain. My friend. My _only_ friend. She was the first person in this new life of mine, in all I knew, all I remembered, to really care. The first to make me smile. The first to make me laugh. My _best_ friend. _Dead_. A scream finally escaped my lips. Not of anguish, but of white-hot rage. My scream turned into a growl as I re-tightened the grip on my gunblade. My vision was turning red. Not even thinking twice, I charged.  
  
I don't entirely remember what happened then. I recall hacking off one of the vines, I guess hoping it was the one that took my friend. Then I was inside its reach, sending leaves and blood everywhere. I don't know how I got back out, but the next thing I knew I was staring the fiend down from about fifteen feet back. I didn't know where the others were. All I saw was this thing before me. My sword began to glow. I didn't know why, but I didn't care. White energy swirled around the blade until it almost hurt to look at. I knew what to do then. Jumping up, I drove the blade into the ground. Upon impact, a shockwave exploded forward in the direction of the ochu, smashing into it and driving it back. When the dust cleared, there was no Lord Ochu left, only a few pyreflies that were still lingering. My mind calmed a little bit. I knew my overdrive now, Energy Wave. I'd seen Tidus' Spiral Cut and Lulu's Fury, but I had never used mine before. I would have been more excited about using it if my friend wasn't lying dead. I heard clapping. Turning, I saw everyone applauding me. Rikku included.  
  
She was sitting on the ground, and holding her shirt together from the looks of it. I guess the thing hit her hard. I walked over to her and just smiled out of relief. "Glad you're okay. Thought you were...you know... dead."  
  
"Yunie took care of me while you were fighting! Everything's okie dokie now!"  
  
"Dude, you rock Arek!" Tidus' input, naturally.  
  
"Yeah, dat was way impressive, ya? At least you weren't using any machina, right?" Wakka added in, to my surprise. I think he was trying to joke with me some, so maybe he was over Rikku and my heritage. For now, at least.  
  
"You're quite the guardian, Arek. To your summoner and to the rest of us, it seems." Lulu put in, amusement glimmering in her eyes. I don't know what she saw, but she found something funny, I guess.  
  
"Ummm... I hate to interrupt, but my clothes are trashed! Can we at least fix my shirt?" Rikku slipped in. Everyone had forgotten about her wardrobe problem. We all just stood there for a moment, then I came up with an idea. Taking my cloak off, I tossed it on her.  
  
"Wear this and I'll take you back to town. Maybe we can find someone to fix your shirt. We'll meet the rest of you guys at the temple, okay?" It seemed reasonable, so everyone agreed.  
  
As soon as the group was out of sight, she turned to me. "That was SOOO cool! You totally kicked that thing's butt! It was like _boom!_ and then you were like _bam!_ and then you did that cool thing and blew it to pieces!" she narrated with elaborative hand gestures. I just smiled and watched. It was pretty funny.  
  
"Just one question Rikku. How did you see all this if you were, like, almost dead?"  
  
"Huh? Oh yeahhh, Yunie fixed me up fast! We were gonna help you, but you looked like you had it under control." She explained.  
  
"Oh. Guess I overreacted then, didn't I?"  
  
"Nope! That thing would have tried to finish me off if you hadn't stopped it!" she said, but I doubted it. I did overreact, but she didn't want to say so. I figured I'd drop it for now.  
  
By now we were back on the docks in Kilika. After asking a few questions and doing some searching, we found a seamstress working in the inn. When we explained the situation, she agreed to help, "but only because you're the Lady Yuna's guardians." She took Rikku (in my cloak) upstairs to get her shirt fixed while I waited in the lobby. After about five minutes, I realized there was a big problem. The others had all the money with them. This was when the lady and Rikku came back down the steps. I ran through my options, but there really weren't any at the moment. I had one choice, and I didn't like it.  
  
"Excuse me ma'am, but we don't have any money with us right now. Would you be willing to make a trade for your services?"  
  
The lady gave me the evil eye. "What would you trade in?" I rolled my eyes, which she thankfully didn't notice, and walked over to Rikku. Removing my cloak from her shoulders (she was still wearing it for some reason), I turned back to the seamstress.  
  
"Would you take the cloak of the Black Knight?" I asked her, suppressing a gag. The name was stupid, but maybe the little bit of fame I had would help me out.  
  
"You mean YOU'RE the one who single-handedly defeated a pack of coyotes on Besaid and that huge fiend over here in the woods?" Maybe my little bit of fame had grown since my fit of rage on the ochu. "The Crusaders that came in from the forest were talking all about your fight! I'll trade you my sewing job AND 100 gil!" And so we left the shop with Rikku's shirt repaired plus some money. Once we were standing outside of the shop, I turned to Rikku.  
  
"Well, looks like you got your wish. Not only did you get your clothes fixed, I also had to ditch my cloak." She started laughing at this.  
  
"Guess you're right! I win!" We both laughed for a good minute, more out of relief that everything turned out okay, I think. When our fit had died down she turned back to me.  
  
"Look, overreact or not, I appreciate what you did for me back there. Thanks." She then gave me the same bone-crushing hug Yuna had received on the Besaid docks. That girl hugged hard! My lungs were being squashed to the point that I couldn't breathe.  
  
_'Was_ _it just the strength of Rikku's hug that was taking my breath away?'_ Of course! She just hugged real hard is all. I tried to gasp something out to get her attention, and even though I couldn't make any comprehensible noise, she seemed to get the point. She pulled back, grinning sheepishly.  
  
"Heh heh... Sorry!" she said with a hint of pink in her cheeks.  
  
"I cleared my throat back out and smiled. "Its okay. We should probably catch up to the others now."  
  
Not much happened on the way up to the temple. The fiends we ran into were easy enough to kill with the firestrike on my sword. We climbed the steps, noticing the destruction in the plaza area halfway up. The ground was cracked and there was green goo splattered everywhere. I noticed, to my alarm, there were some bloodstains in the area as well. Looks like we missed something while we were in town.  
  
The priests stopped us when we showed up at the temple. They saw Rikku's heritage and called it blasphemy that she was in their presence. They had never even conceived that I was Al Bhed, for they never mentioned me being there. I guess they never figured the 'Black Knight' would be Al Bhed. Stepping forward, I grabbed my eyelid and pulled it down so the priest could see my eye better.  
  
"There. Green, see? We're _both_ Al Bhed, we're _both_ guardians. Now let us through, or I might get mad." It was an empty threat of course, but I didn't think he'd know that. Stunned at this revelation, he stepped aside muttering to himself. Rikku gave me that look that has 'thank you' written all over it. She stuck her tongue out at the priest as we passed. Not smart, but funny anyways. It wasn't hard to get to the others from there. The cloister was already completed. Everyone was waiting in the antechamber, Tidus included. Seeing as he wasn't a guardian yet, I didn't understand this, but I didn't bring it up either. Everyone was sporting various injuries. Tidus had a cloth around his arm that was soaked in blood, Wakka moved with a limp, and Lulu had several scratches across her face. Kimahri looked like himself, but the crimson stains in his fur told me he hadn't gone away empty handed. Wakka came up to us and explained.  
  
"Big fiend was waitin' for us, ya? Yuna wasn't healin' cuz she needed to save her strength for the Fayth. It was some sort of Sinspawn, ya? Could have used your guys' help..." This, from Wakka? Thought he hated us. I wasn't going to question his change right now though. I'd ask him later.  
  
"Sorry we ran so late. Took the lady forever to fix Rikku's clothes."  
  
"So what if it took forever? You can't even see the stitch!" Rikku piped up.  
  
"Whatever... ya know, I wanted to tell you guys..." But Wakka never got to tell us whatever it was. The door opened then, and Yuna stumbled out. Tidus started toward her, but Kimahri was waiting, and he caught her as she began to fall. She saw everyone was there, so she made her announcement.  
  
"I'm a little tired. Can we rest here and continue tomorrow? I'm sure the priests will be able to heal all of you." We were all planning on returning to Kilika for the night, but we decided to get some rooms in the temple at Yuna's request. The priests showed us to the section of the temple used for summoner's lodging. It was a hallway of rather nice rooms off of one of the side rooms. They made it large enough to accommodate more than one summoner's party at a time, so we were able to score individual rooms since no other summoners were staying there at the time. I lay awake for a while thinking over the events of the day before sleep finally took me.  
  
-----  
  
We were up early the next morning. The priests had cast regen spells on everyone who was hurt, and we were all in top shape by wake up time. The trip down to Kilika was uneventful. By now we were strong enough to take the forest fiends with no problems, so we spent about an hour smashing them and stocking up on stuff they dropped. The ship didn't leave until mid afternoon anyways. Walking back to town, I saw Wakka falling behind the rest of the group, so I figured it was as good of a time as any to speak with him. I stopped and waited for him, but didn't need to start talking. He spoke first.  
  
"Hey, I wanted to talk to you, ya? Rikku too, but you'll do for now. I... just wanted to say I'm sorry, ya? I judged you two without thinkin' and I shouldn't have. You an' Rikku are good people, ya? Jus' because I got problems wit' your race doesn't mean there aren't _some_ of you that are good, right?" Well it was a start. He hated our people, but he didn't hate me and Rikku. It's not great, but at least we'll get along for now.  
  
"Okay. I think I can live with that for now. Go talk to Rikku though. Be ready, I bet she'll rub it in."  
  
"Yeah, I bet she will," he said, chuckling, "Good to be on the same team again brudda!" he said, extending his hand. I gladly shook it. As long as we can get along, you know? I bet Lulu put him up to this anyways, but I wouldn't complain in the least.  
  
Nothing really happened until the boat came. Wakka took Rikku aside, and the next thing we saw was Wakka chasing after her yelling and Rikku running and laughing like mad. Guess she really rubbed it in. Everything was more relaxed after that. Rikku and I weren't separated from the group anymore, because Wakka wasn't driving a stake between us and everyone else. Still, we tended to hang with Yuna and Tidus more. They were closer to our age, and it was easier to relate with them. The boat finally showed up around 3 in the afternoon, so we boarded the S.S. Winno and proceeded on to Luca. I'd finally get to see Blitzball for real.  
  
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Not as long as I'd have liked. Only two thousand words, but not bad. It kind of tied up some clashes to make stuff easier in the future. Arek's personality is beginning to change. His happy side is coming out, and what's this? Maybe he likes his friend a little? I've got plenty of ideas, so we'll see how everything falls together. BTW, the rooms they stayed in at the temple are my own idea, so don't expect to find them in the game. Please keep reviewing! I love seeing that you guys like my work! It might be a bit for the next chapter, seeing as I just got my first car today and we need to get it street legal. So I guess I'll c-ya guys as soon as I can! 


	7. Best Friends and New Clothes

Thanks to my reviewers again, I love you guys! I really don't know how this chapter is gonna turn out, cuz I've got the ideas but I'm not sure how to put them to writing. But, we'll just try anyways and see how it goes! Not much else to say, so let's get started!  
  
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I spent the afternoon below deck due to the heat outside. Wearing black on a hot day sucks. So I spent some time resting in my room, never really falling asleep but just relaxing. After an hour or two I was bored, so I figured I'd explore the ship a little bit.  
  
There really wasn't much to see since the Winno wasn't very big. I had seen everything and was about to go outside when I found another door labeled Engine Room. I decided to check it out. Inside was a bunch of huge rotating wheels attached to some sort of machines. I guess they weren't the forbidden kind. Also present in the room was Rikku. She saw me and flashed me a big grin and a "Hiya!" before turning back to the one wheel that was stopped. I went over to where she was kneeling and got my first glimpse of what was moving the wheels. Huge birds. Tall, yellow, with small wings. The one Rikku was next to had stopped and had its head poking out of a hole in the side of the wheel. She was rubbing its beak, making it squeal in delight.  
  
"Chocobos are SOOO cute!" she exclaimed. "You never see any in the desert! I absolutely LOVE them!"  
  
Once again I was missing something. I assumed this bird was a chocobo, but what did that have to do with the desert? She must have seen my puzzlement, for she went into explanation. "We Al Bhed live in the desert, remember? Our old home was destroyed, but my dad got us all together and we built a new one! It's amazing! I'll take you there someday, okay?"  
  
I smiled. "Okay." I reached out and petted the chocobo. Its feathers were soft, almost like fur in texture. Just then the first mate came in the door and started griping at us.  
  
"What do you think you're doing? The ship won't move straight if one of the chocobos stops! We're drifting off course!" Rikku looked hurt. My conscience got the better of me again, so I covered for her. Again.  
  
"Sorry about that. I didn't know. My friend and I came down here and I had to pet one. Didn't mean to mess anything up."  
  
That didn't help his mood. "I don't care! Get out, you idiot, and take your friend with you!" Shrugging, I went to leave, Rikku following. Once we were out, the man locked the engine room and went back upstairs. Once he was gone, I turned back to Rikku.  
  
"Wow. What bit him this morning?" We both started laughing, not realizing the first mate was still in earshot. He come back down the steps, screaming and cursing. This, however, only made us laugh even harder. He stormed off grumbling to himself. We both went up on deck to our 'favorite' place, the back of the boat. The sun had already set, which meant I must have fallen asleep when I was hanging out in my room. No way I could lay there awake for four or so hours. Wiping the tears of laughter from her face, Rikku managed to get out a "Thanks." I got out a "No problem" in reply. Man, that guy was funny!  
  
After we were able to control ourselves again, we headed to the front of the ship. Tidus was drawing quite a crowd; whether he noticed it or not I didn't know. Kicking a blitzball into the mast, he then spiked it on its return, making it hit the mast again. The ball curved and shot straight up. Tidus jumped, spinning uncountable times, then kicked it, sending it flying off towards the horizon. Everyone mobbed him after that, wanting to see it again. Yuna was standing off to the side, smiling at him. Cute. I'd never get a chance to wish him luck that night, so I went to the upper deck and collapsed across one of the tables, staring up at the night sky. After a few minutes I received a punch in the arm. Rikku was standing there looking down at me.  
  
"Room for one more?" she asked, almost timidly. I smiled and moved over enough to let her lay down on the table as well. "You know, you can never really see the stars back at Home. The lights from the towers drown out most of them, and it's not safe to go out into the desert by yourself. They're really pretty."  
  
"Yeah. It's real peaceful to do this, seeing as we're gonna be so busy tomorrow. Shopping, remember?"  
  
She gave me one of those huge goofy grins. "How could I forget?" I didn't really want to, but it would make her day, and I couldn't turn down my best friend like that.  
  
We lay there in silence watching the stars, just happy to be with each other. It's nice to have such good friends. I don't know about Rikku, but I fell asleep on that table while staring into the sky.  
  
-------  
  
The next morning I really wished I hadn't fallen asleep on that table while staring into the sky. I woke up on the floor of the upper deck with more back pain than I could shake my sword at. Rikku was nowhere in sight, so she must have turned in at some point in the night. Looks like she was the smarter of the two of us this time. Heading down from the top deck, I saw Tidus standing towards the front of the ship. I could see land in the distance. He waved as I came down. I wanted to see Luca as well, so I joined him at the front of the ship. He couldn't stop moving. "I'm just so excited!" he said.  
  
We were docked within the next 20 minutes. They were announcing teams as they descended from the Winno. The Aurochs, Beasts, and Goers were all aboard. We then learned that the Maesters had arrived, so we had to get moving. The others were all big Yevonites, so they had to go. Rikku used this as a chance to escape; since we were Al Bhed we had no obligation, she said. Surprisingly, no one seemed ticked off at this. Wakka looked a little annoyed, but he never said a thing. The first round started at 10 o'clock, so we had about two hours before we had to get to the stadium. Being guardians, we were guaranteed seats with our summoner, so we didn't have to worry about tickets. And so Rikku's shopping adventure for me (with me being dragged along) began.  
  
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I managed to convince Rikku that I only needed one set of clothes early on. Thank goodness I did, or I'd be carrying about ten bags by now. Nevertheless, we never could agree on something I wanted to be seen in. Rikku had the weirdest ideas. As 10 o'clock drew near, I finally found something decent.  
  
I stepped out of the dressing room and examined myself in the mirror waiting outside. My black boots had been replaced by tan combat- style boots that stopped upper ankle. I now had khaki pants that were uniquely styled. The left leg was normal pant length, but the right leg stopped just below the knee like my old shorts did. I had a dark green t- shirt that fit just a little too tight for my liking, showing off my muscled upper body. This, however, was covered by a brown leather jacket. The only accessory left on me that was black were my new fingerless gloves. The left arm of my jacket was cut off halfway down my bicep, revealing a metal bracer that nearly stretched from my wrist to my elbow. It was surprisingly lightweight for its size, so it didn't hinder my movement or my swing. Around my neck was a chain holding a simple metal cross. I didn't know what it was for, but it looked good, so I couldn't resist. Rikku hadn't seen me yet. Clearing my throat, she turned and froze. She looked me over, still not saying anything.  
  
"Well?" She was just staring. Waving my hand around in front of her face, I finally got a response.  
  
"Tysh."  
  
I smiled at her. "Tysh indeed. I like it. Guess this is my new look, huh?"  
  
She frowned for a second, "It needs something still..." before her face lit up with delight. "Got it!" she exclaimed before reaching into the item pouch on her side. She extracted a pair of goggles and placed them around my neck. "My extra pair," she told me. "They make it perfect." Stepping back, she appraised me once more.  
  
"Oh. My. Gosh. It's SO you!" she said in typical girl fashion while jumping around. "I'm glad I finally did it!"  
  
"Did what?"  
  
"Found you an outfit, silly!" I fake frowned at her.  
  
"YOU found it? I picked this one out, kiddo."  
  
So we fake bickered all the way to the counter and paid for my purchase. I traded in my old clothes to help pay for it. I also did it partly because I wanted to get rid of them. I felt like a new person now. Whatever happened to me in the past no longer mattered. Whatever was forgotten, I could stand to leave it forgotten for now. I wasn't Arek the lost-and-confused loner guy anymore. I was Arek, guardian to the Lady Yuna, Rikku's best friend, and kickass fighter guy. Yeah, things are definitely looking up now.  
  
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I honestly planned on making this a LOT longer, but the story kinda grew a mind of its own this chapter and this really felt like a good place to stop. I'll make a deal with you though. The next chapter will make up for it. The stadium attack scene will be sweet, I hope. And the next chapter should go to the travel agency at Mi'ihen, where before I was gonna end it right after the stadium fight. Sooo, I just shifted everything around. Next one should be out soon. I tried to bring out Rikku and Arek's friendship here. I think they like each other a tiny bit but don't really realize it yet. And Arek's personality may have changed, but don't think he won't find out what happened to him! Review for me if you have time. C-ya all later! 


	8. Fights and Food

Writer's block was kicking my butt about halfway though this chapter. From here on out its not so planned the way the start was. I have my basic ideas, but it's just a play-it-by-ear sort of thing on fleshing my ideas out. Sorry it took longer than intended. Thanks to my reviewers who stick with me on this each chapter! I'm glad to know that about 4 or 5 people read this thing. I'll give credit where it's due – **Dragon and Sword Master**, **Glaciours**, **Solid Shark**, and **Dragoon Swordsman**, thanks a bundle! No let's get to the good part!  
  
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We were to our seats by the time the first round started. The Aurochs were seeded, so their match wouldn't start until noon. We were all content to watch for now. The Al Bhed Psyches were playing the Kilika Beasts. The winner would play Besaid, and even this early on the winner looked like it would be the Psyches. They were outmaneuvering, out-checking, and out-shooting the Beasts already. By halftime the score was 4- 1. The Psyches seemed to be saving their strength, for they let up in the second half and didn't bother shooting anymore. The game ended 4-2 in favor of the Psyches.  
  
The round was over about 11 o'clock. Tidus and the Aurochs had left for the locker rooms just before the match finished. They would play the Psyches second round. The rest of us were sitting around watching the Junior Blitzball League match that was running between the real rounds when a small crowd of people walked by chatting. I overheard the name "Auron" and "café". Yuna must have caught it too, for she stood up and told us she had to find him. She needed to get Tidus first. While we were all moving out, I asked Lulu for a quick explanation.  
  
"Sir Auron was a guardian to Yuna's father Lord Braska ten years ago. No one has seen him since then. Evidently Tidus knows him too, or else there wouldn't be a reason for Yuna to go get him."  
  
After we got Tidus' attention, we made our way to the café. Tidus and Yuna ran ahead; Lulu, Kimahri, Rikku and I took our time. When we finally caught up to them inside the café, we learned Auron wasn't there. Rikku and I ordered ourselves some drinks, and Kimahri started a fight with another few Ronso, whatever about I didn't know. By now the Aurochs' first round had started, sans Tidus. There were enough players to fill in, so it was okay for now. While we were all distracted with one thing or another, Yuna was kidnapped. So naturally, we had to do our jobs and save her.  
  
"It was the Al Bhed!" Lulu explained as we neared the stadium. "They want the Aurochs to lose in exchange for Yuna's safe return!" I guess she had found a note or something. Once we were near the docks, machina appeared and came at us. Rikku and I knew what they were, but Tidus didn't.  
  
"What are those things?"  
  
Lulu went to answer, but I did first. "Machina. Our people specialize in 'em, remember?"  
  
"Arek, do you know how to deal with these things still?" Rikku asked.  
  
"I don't know. Refresh me." Rikku responded by charging the nearest machina, ripping out its core, then throwing it at another machina, where it detonated. She turned to me and grinned. "Like that!"  
  
"Okay, I get it." As two more came, I ran forward and vaulted off the first one's head, then unsheathed my gunblade and landed point down on the second one. I pulled it back out and hit the first machina with a vertical cleave that split it in two. I turned back to Rikku. "Like that?"  
  
"Perfect!"  
  
Lulu was surprised at us. "These are your own people, yet you fight them?"  
  
"We're guardians now, remember?" Rikku and I both said at the same time. We stared at each other for a second, then burst out in a fit of giggles. "We protect Yuna from anyone, even our own people." I continued. Lulu seemed to approve, for she nodded and simply said "Let's continue."  
  
So we charged our way down the docks, hacking machina, ripping them apart, and blasting them with lightning. The Al Bhed ship was all the way around the other side of the dome. We jumped on as it tried to escape. Then the cargo hatch opened, revealing a large, not so friendly machina waiting for us.  
  
The machina fired balls at us. Lots of them. Rikku and I tried to play distraction while Tidus and Lulu worked and a crane close by. Kimahri wasn't fast enough to evade the thing's shots, so he stayed back. As the machina fired at me, I usually raised my sword and split the ball in two. Rikku just kept on her toes and nothing could hit her. After a few minutes, the crane was ready, and Tidus managed to tear the top half of the machina off. We had no trouble finishing it after that.  
  
By the time we got the ship back to the dock, it was about 1:30. Wakka and the Aurochs had managed to hold off the Psyches, but Wakka was hurting. Tidus would go in to replace him. The finals began at 2. Tidus did an amazing job against the Goers and put the Aurochs up 2-1. Towards the end of the second half, Wakka came in and finished the game off, giving the Crystal Cup to Besaid for the first time since nearly anyone could remember. The joy was short lived though, as at that moment fiends started pouring out from the entrances to the stadium.  
  
I was immediately on my feet. I yelled to Lulu, Rikku and Kimahri, "Get Yuna out now! I'm gonna help out!" I at least wanted to get to Tidus and Wakka upon their exit from the sphere pool. They were going to be wiped out from the game. Looking over, I saw them fighting water fiends inside the pool. 'They'll be fine,' I told myself, 'just drop as many as you can.' So I went to work.  
  
I began to make my way towards where it looked like Tidus and Wakka would exit the pool. As I passed one of the exits to the stadium, a pack of three Garms charged out and gave pursuit. They looked a lot like the fiends I took care of on Besaid. Spinning as they drew close, I cleaved through the jaw of the first one, then jumped up as the next two lunged in. I landed and back kicked one as it turned, sending it over the ledge next to me. I sidestepped the last one's charge, cleanly removing its head as it passed. Checking the sphere pool, I realized Tidus and Wakka were no longer in it. They were about a fourth of the way around the pool, fighting off another pack of Garms. I ran ahead, but stopped when I saw yet another fighter facing down a large fiend.  
  
His arm shot out of its sling and made a two-handed grip on his huge sword. He wore a big red coat, a cowl, and dark sunglasses. I could have watched to see what happened, but I was in a bit of a rush. Charging towards him, I leapt forward, planted my foot on the side of the railing, and launched by the fiend, laying into its face. Rolling out of my dive, I saw the fiend leaking pyreflies, and the man simply staring at me. Whatever. I turned and charged down the path to where Tidus and Wakka were facing a huge Garuda. The new guy walked up to join us all a few seconds later. Tidus seemed to know him.  
  
"Auron!?" Auron never responded, but instead turned and struck the fiend. It shrieked in agony, a call that got two more to join it. We stood back to back in between them, seeing as there was really no way out. Wakka threw his blitzball at one, but it swung its claw up, grabbing and popping the ball. Another flew low, raking me with its claw along my arm. This was very bad. I started to get that feeling again. I couldn't remember where I had felt it. then my sword began to glow again, and I knew what it was. 'Like in Kilika,' I told myself. This time though, I was in control, not my rage.  
  
My sword grew brighter and brighter, until this time I really couldn't look at it. I tried to slam it into the ground and release its power, but I couldn't move. Maybe I really wasn't in control this time either. The glow began to snake from the blade into my hand. The light disappeared into me. It was warm, but it didn't burn. After a second I could feel it in all my body. _Then_ it began to burn. It felt like it was eating me from the inside out. I went to scream, but no sound came out of my mouth, only that light. My skin felt like it was going to explode. Then all I could see was white. Then darkness.  
  
-------  
  
I slowly cracked my eyes open to take in my surroundings. I was in a room, lying in bed. My sword leaned against the wall next to me, and my shirt and jacket were right next to it. Scanning the room, my eyes landed on three people – Yuna, Tidus, and Rikku. They were talking amongst themselves, but upon hearing me stir, the all rushed over to my bed, hitting me with a barrage of questions.  
  
"Are you..."  
  
"...feel okay?"  
  
"How did..."  
  
"What was..."  
  
"...know where you are?"  
  
"STOP! One at a time!" They fell into silence. After a tense few seconds, Rikku spoke up.  
  
"How do you feel?" she asked quietly. I stood up slowly and began to dress myself.  
  
"My head hurts, but other than that I'm alright. What exactly happened?"  
  
Yuna answered the question. "We don't know. We were trying to escape the stadium, and when I turned back I saw you glowing. Light was coming out of your mouth, then a few seconds later it just came out of your whole body. It washed over the entire stadium. The people were untouched, but the fiends were destroyed, every last one." All three stood in silence, as if waiting for my explanation.  
  
"Well, maybe it... I don't know. I was like my overdrive the first time, but just way out of hand. It made me pass out. Maybe we should head back to the dome and make sure no one got hurt." There was another uncomfortable silence. Tidus spoke up this time.  
  
"Arek, you've been out of it for two days man. We brought you here after the attack and you've been under since then."  
  
I didn't know how to respond to that, so I didn't. _Two days_? No way it could be that long. I wanted out of here either way. I was starving. I turned to them. "Can you guys go for a sec? I wanna ask Rikku something." Tidus and Yuna nodded and left. If Rikku said it was two days, I'd believe her. Before I could ask she responded.  
  
"It really was two days, you know. Yunie and Tidus wouldn't lie to you." Damn, she's good. And right too. They wouldn't steer me wrong. I just nodded and smiled, then went to leave. She spoke up again before I made it out. "You said things while you slept. Well, more like whispered. The others didn't hear it, but I did." I turned back.  
  
"How do you know the others didn't hear?"  
  
"Because you said them so quietly."  
  
"Then how did you hear them?"  
  
Rikku turned slightly pink, and became very interested in her shoes at this. When she spoke, it was very quietly. "I never left your side."  
  
I was stunned. I really didn't know why either. Was I really that bad where they were afraid I was going to die? Suddenly, I didn't care. I walked over and caught Rikku in a huge embrace. She was more than surprised at this, the way she tensed up, but after a second she relaxed and returned it. She did it for me after I got her shirt fixed, so why shouldn't I return the gesture? We pulled apart after a few seconds and I asked her the other thing eating at my brain.  
  
"Rikku... what exactly did I say?" She thought for a second before responding.  
  
"I only heard two things. One time you said 'how could you, you monster', and the other time you said...umm... oh yeah! I think it was 'you'll pay, I'll make you pay.' That's all I heard," she stated matter-of-factly.  
  
As we went to find everyone else, I pondered this, but to no avail. The wall to my past was just as intact as ever. I had a new key, but no slot to put it in. I gave up on it when we arrived at the café. Rikku had said everyone would be waiting there. Upon stepping inside, a thunderous roar of applause greeted me. The whole café was on their feet cheering for me. The owner stepped up, shaking my hand and explaining, "Sir Arek, we all appreciate your heroic act at the stadium two days ago! Several people here were there during the attack, and we are forever grateful! As a reward, you, your summoner, and all her guardians eat for free!" More cheers at this. I smiled very big at this for two reasons. First, I was starving, and second, they finally decided to use my name. The 'Black Knight' thing was as dead as my old clothes. Yuna came up to me as the patrons went back to their business.  
  
"We're all eating outside today. Just get your stuff and find us, okay?" I nodded and jumped in line.  
  
Five minutes later I emerged from the café with a huge burger with the works, a heaping mound of fries, and I great big root beer float. I thought I'd died and gone to the Farplane. Just outside the entrance were a few picnic tables. Lulu, Wakka, Auron, and Kimahri occupied the first and Yuna, Rikku, and Tidus had the other. The latter table flagged me over, so I went and sat with them. Tidus asked how I was feeling now. I responded with, "Can't talk. Eating", then proceeded to stuff my face. This received snickers from the others and an "I guess that means he's alright" from Tidus. After I took down about half the plate, I leaned back, stretched, and tore a very loud belch. Rikku snorted her soda through her nose and the others cracked up. Yuna jokingly told me, "Sir Arek, that's not the way I want my guardians to behave!" I looked at her smugly.  
  
"Well then, I guess I'll have to (BURP) try harder then, won't I?" We all laughed for a good long time at this. Rikku and Tidus joined in belching, and we were crying with laughter by now. Suddenly a small bolt of lightning whizzed by our table. Turning, we saw all four at the other table staring at us with disapproval. We stared back with that kid-with-his-hand-in-the-cookie-jar look.  
  
"Maybe you should try acting your age!" Lulu scolded at us. There was dead silence for about five seconds. Then out of nowhere, Yuna let out a small belch. The rest of us at her table literally fell on the ground laughing. Rikku nearly made herself sick from laughing so hard. After about five minutes, we recovered enough to speak again. So we sat around the table sipping our drinks and "acting our age". I wanted to know more about these guys, my friends, so I had to ask.  
  
"I got an idea. For the next few minutes, let's pretend we aren't on a pilgrimage. Rikku, what do you want to do with your life?"  
  
Rikku thought for a second and responded, "Well, if there's no pilgrimages then there's no Sin, right? That means everyone would need to learn how to use machina! I'd be the one to show 'em how!"  
  
I didn't even ask and Tidus spoke up. "I'd go back to blitz!"  
  
"Go back to?" I interrupted.  
  
"Yeah. Yuna made me and Auron guardians yesterday. You guys are stuck with me now!" he responded.  
  
Rikku stuck her tongue out. "Eww! You mean we have to deal with you the rest of the way?" Tidus grabbed some ice from his soda and threw it, which Rikku easily dodged. We all laughed for a second before I turned to Yuna. "What about you Yuna? What would you do?"  
  
She smiled and said, "I've never even thought about it."  
  
"Come on there must be something!" I pressed.  
  
"Yeah Yunie, tell us!"  
  
"Yeah, come on Yunie!" Tidus mocked, triggering another short ice fight. After a few more seconds, it died down, and Yuna had her response.  
  
"I want a normal life. I want a job, a husband, and a family. Just like everyone else." She said with just a twinge of sadness. Rikku and I understood, but Tidus didn't.  
  
"You can do that stuff after the pilgrimage though! You don't have to be so sad about it, you know?" Yuna just gave one of those smiles and nodded. Lulu saved us from an ensuing awkward silence.  
  
"Let's go _kids_! It's noon and we have to get moving." The others had already gone ahead. Tidus yelled out, "Race!" and took off. Yuna chased after him. Rikku and I just laughed. We walked because running on a full stomach was no fun. I felt something in my hand as we walked. Looking down, I saw Rikku's hand in mine. She just gave me a sweet smile, which I returned. And so we caught up to the others atop the steps leading out of Luca hand in hand. Maybe there's something special between us, maybe not. Time will only tell.  
  
----------------  
  
I think this one turned out okay. I got Arek and Rikku's relationship beginning to bud, but I don't know how fast I'm moving with that. I'll play with ideas. The plot finally started to take root I tiny bit here, with Arek's dreams. It'll make more sense as the story progresses. I'll now leave you with the three things found in every footnote on :  
  
The Lies – I'll have this updated REAL SOON!

The Begging – PLEASE REVIEW!!!

The Send-Off – C-ya guys next time!


	9. Meeting Seymour

PLEASE don't kill me, I had a writer's block the size of the moon. Except block-shaped. I'm gonna try to make up for it with an extra long chapter. If I can pull it off, this'll go until after operation Mi'ihen. School's back in, so it might take a bit for updates, but hopefully not as long as it's been for this chapter! Also, I know some of the dialogue isn't correct, but I can't find a novelization that's this far in and I'm not starting over, so I'm very sorry but just deal with it. Thanks once again to my reviewers.

**Solid Shark** – Glad you think its interesting. I was worried I was moving too slow.

**Dragoon Swordsman** – Operation Mi'ihen will be cool. I'm contemplating a few ideas, so we'll see how it turns out...

**Dragon46** – I really appreciate it! I love that my story is...loved... yeah that's the only word I can think of right now...

**Glaciours** – Their relationship won't be taking off just yet...

**Dragon and Sword Master** – I've had that scene outside the café planned out weeks before I even thought of writing this. It my favorite scene so far! And Arek just overexerted himself in that attack. I guess he'll just have to restrain himself.

**Demonslayer** – Seymour was there. Yuna and the others went to greet the Maesters' ship when Arek and Rikku went shopping. He just didn't get to use Anima because Arek took care of the fiends first.

----------------

The Mi'ihen Highroad could only be described as one thing to me – boring. Miles and miles of endless road with occasional ruins dotting it. I had been keeping a little to myself for most of the walk. Rikku danced around the party, chatting with everyone and from the looks of it, having a grand time. I was listening to Tidus give me a play-by-play of his performance at the Blitzball tournament for the fifth time when Auron, who was leading our group, came to a sudden halt. We all naturally fell quiet and stopped, waiting for whatever he was going to do. Turning to face me, he said, "So you're the 'Black Knight?'"

"_Was_ the 'Black Knight'. My attire's kinda changed," I responded. Auron smirked at this comment for a second before pulling out his katana. "Show me."

Everyone wordlessly stepped back. They didn't want to be near when a 'Legendary Guardian' drew his weapon. I just stood there for a second. Was he serious? I figured, however, that a friendly match between two allies couldn't hurt. Right?

I unsheathed my gunblade and took up my battle stance, left shoulder forward to minimize Auron's target areas on my body. He stood motionless, katana slung over his shoulder. Neither of us moved from our positions, each of us waiting for the other. Auron didn't feel as inclined to wait, and faster than the eye could follow he charged in with a two-handed vertical swing.

Metal clashed as I brought my sword up to meet his. He swung with great force, and my sword arm nearly went numb from the blow. As I brought my gunblade down for a horizontal swing, I moved my other hand to the weapon, giving me a two-handed grip. Auron dropped his hands down, guarding with the very bottom of the blade, before shoving off and spinning into a chop across my midsection. I jumped back, blade nearly grazing me, then charged in with several swings of my own, short and fast. Auron, barely moving his hands, brought his katana into a position to block every single strike. Our swords clashed again and held, each of us trying to gain the upper hand. He was stronger, and with a final shove he threw me off balance. Pressing his attack, he drove me backwards. I tripped and turned it into a roll, coming up to counter another swing, then charging back in to press another attack. He blocked it and spun faster than I could follow with my eyes, coming full circle and ending with his blade about a half-inch from the side of my neck. We both froze. Auron gave his trademark smirk, but before he could move, I cleared my throat and flicked my eyes downwards to draw attention to something.

The tip of my gunblade hovered a hair's width from him directly over his heart. His smirk faded, replaced by his usual blank look. Tidus started whooping and laughing, Rikku was whistling and clapping, and the others just stood in shock. Auron pulled his sword back and just continued to stare. After about a full minute, he nodded. Nothing else, just a nod. He then turned to the others, "Night will come soon. We should rest here for the night."

---

So we found a small clearing to the side of the main road and set up camp. Fiends were really light for some reason, probably because so many of them went down to attack Luca. I offered watch for a bit, so everyone else drifted off to sleep while I lay back staring at the stars. It was peaceful, but I needed something else to do or I'd fall asleep. I got up and moved a little ways away so I wouldn't bother anyone, but so I could still hear any disturbances. I pulled out my sword and began to run through a drill. I don't know if I knew it before or if I made it up as I went, but the movements flowed together, like a dance. _Set, parry, slice, turn, stab, guard, turn, duck, counter, spin, slash, slash, guard, sidestep, turn, sla-..._ There I stopped, for Rikku stood with her head less than a foot from my blade. She just smiled and wiggled her fingers at me in a little wave.

"Shouldn't you be asleep? Little kids need their rest, you know."

"Crid ib! I just figured you'd want some company, meanie!"

I just smiled. "Okay." We hung out for a while, not saying much, once again just content to be in each other's company. She seemed really distant though. I asked her what was up. She responded with, "You know you're my best friend, right?"

"Well yeah, I'd have thought so. Why do you ask?"

"...Okay, I just didn't want you to get any... ideas... you know? I mean, we're best buds and stuff, but that's it. Isn't it?"

I was surprised at this. I mean, she just reached out and grabbed my hand earlier today and now she wants to make sure we're only friends? Well... that's harsh, and I _do_ like her a bit... I guess... but if it's what she wants... Besides, she's so outgoing, she probably holds lots of people's hands. It's just the way she is, right?

"Yeah. Of course. Why would I think any different?" I responded with a weak smile. She immediately brightened up.

"Great! I knew you know that! Well, it's my watch now, you've been out here three whole hours! Night, Best Buddy!" she exclaimed before tackling me with a huge bear hug.

I didn't sleep as good that night. I was plagued with dreams, but I could never quite remember what they were.

---

Our next day was a little bit more exciting. The fiends had started to pick up again as we got farther away from Luca. Tidus and I started keeping count of the number we'd killed. Rikku beat us both by blowing up a pack of Garms with a very large grenade. For some reason, it was very funny. Anyways, we traveled the Highroad, speaking with travelers and honing our skills for the rest of the day. By dusk we had made it to the Travel Agency. Wakka seemed a little disgruntled, but he never said anything out loud, opting to mumble under his breath as we went inside.

We checked in and everyone went their separate ways. Yuna, Tidus, and Auron went outside. I lost track of Kimahri. Wakka and Lulu were both inside the lobby, as was Rikku. She was engrossed in an Al Bhed book adorning one of the many shelves in the room. I went to find out what was up, and she explained it was a "funny romance type thing. It's my favorite!" I went outside, leaving her to her book. After about ten minutes with the chocobos she came out, asking to play tag. She's weird sometimes, but I couldn't resist. We got Tidus to join after he had finished talking to Yuna. Her and Auron just watched. We all had a good laugh trying to get Auron to join. It was even funnier when he smirked and explained how he'd "destroy us" before he went back inside.

I had to bunk with Tidus that night, but it was okay. I took the small couch and he took the bed. We stayed up talking about Zanarkand for a while until he fell asleep. I swear I heard him whisper "Yuna" as he passed out for the night.

---

I awoke to the sound of a thud. A big one. A sat up as a small shower of plaster rained down on me from the ceiling. I grabbed a pillow from the couch and threw it at Tidus, stirring him slightly. He came out of it the rest of the way when a small section of ceiling fell right on him. By now I had my gunblade strapped on, so I ran outside to see what was up.

A monstrosity of a fiend greeted my eyes as I spun around to examine to roof of the Agency. It stood about twelve to fifteen feet tall, most of that size being a mouth with uncountable teeth, two tongues thrashing, and arms wider than the body. Clutched in one claw was a chocobo. The others (except Tidus, who came barging out around now) had already gathered, and Wakka launched his blitzball to distract it. It dropped the chocobo and vaulted from the roof, landing a few paces in front of us. It slapped the ground and roared, challenging us to come take it on.

"I think it wants some," I said. Auron's arm shot out and grabbed his katana as he replied, "Well then, let's give it some."

I charged as did Auron and Tidus, and we began tearing into its body with our swords. Auron strode around behind and took swings and its unprotected back. For all our work, it didn't seem to have any effect. It roared again, and in one movement smacked Tidus and I away and kicked Auron off its back. Our swords weren't doing enough damage. It now had the three of us between it and the cliffside. A fall from this far up would be instant death. It advanced on us, but suddenly shuddered to a halt. It screeched and spun towards the others. Lulu was standing out in front, her fingers smoking. Now that I could see the thing's back, I noticed a wicked burn across its shoulder.

"It doesn't like fire! Let us roast it!" Auron yelled out.

"I got 'dis one, ya!" Wakka yelled out. He began to spin his blitzball on his finger, and after a few seconds it burst into flame. He drop-kicked it and the fiends' head, but it blocked it, scorching its claw but leaving its face untouched. Lulu was launching fire spells as fast as she could. Tidus stayed back since his sword wasn't very useful at the moment. I stood back as well, ready to rush in but knowing I couldn't help too much. Kimahri was in the same position as I was. Yuna was firing off healing spells as the fiend scored occasional hits on the fighters. Rikku threw a fire gem at the fiend, burning it badly, but it kept coming. Unknowingly, it had herded all of us back towards the cliff edge yet again, but this time there was no distraction from behind.

"Arek, use this!" Rikku yelled before tossing a fire gem to me. I stuck it in one of the barrels of my gunblade, watching as the thin tendrils of red snaked up the sword. It wasn't much, but now I could help. Auron needed it; he was slashing away even though it seemed to make no difference against the fiend. I charged in and began to attack as well, feeling how my blade cut deeper than it did before. We slowly drove it backwards with our weapons and spells. Wakka charged up his ball one last time, but with Auron and me acting as distractions, it couldn't block this one. The flaming ball hit home on the fiends' head, and it collapsed, never to rise again. Pyreflies filled the clearing for a moment before dissipating into nothingness.

---

The owner of the Agency, a man by the name of Rin, was very pleased that we had gotten rid of the Chocobo Eater without too much damage to the Agency property. He said we could borrow some chocobos for free this once as a reward. There were four of them and they could each hold two people, so it worked out perfectly. Rikku wanted to ride with Yuna, so I went with Tidus, seeing as he was my other closest friend besides those two. I was about to get on our bird when Rin approached us.

"Excuse me, but may I speak with you in private, good sir?" I agreed, and we walked a short distance away. Rin stopped and turned to me. "Good to see you Arek. I assume everything went through as we had hoped?" I froze. Was this some sort of joke?

"...What?" He stared at me with a confused expression, so I continued. "I've never met you before, Mr. Rin. I don't know what you're talking about." He recovered rather fast from this, smiling and apologizing for the mistake. I was about to leave when Rikku yelled out, "Hey Arek! I want my fire gem back!"

"Yeah sure!" I hollered back, pulling out my gunblade, removing the gem from the chamber and pitching it to her. When Rin saw my sword, his eyes widened considerably. "You seen one of these before?" I asked.

"Indeed I have. They're standard issue at Home, but your model is...special, to be customizable like that."

"Well, I guess I'm just lucky then," I smiled, "I need to be going. Nice to meet you Rin!"

"Yes Arek, nice to...meet you as well," he responded before bowing slightly and walking off. He was a bit off, but whatever. I jumped on my chocobo and we rode away.

---

Chocobos were fun. They moved too fast for the fiends to get at us, so we were at the gate to Mushroom Rock Road faster than I had figured possible. There, however, we had to stop. Something the guard explained as 'Operation Mi'ihen' was taking place, and even summoners had to wait before clearance to pass would be given. We were just about to settle in for a long stay until Yuna gasped and grew our attention to a small party of people coming up from the Highroad to the checkpoint.

They all looked weird, but the one in the middle took the cake. He had blue hair strange enough to make Wakka's look normal and wore a flowing robe-type thing. His hands almost seemed oversized and his nails were rather long. There were varicose veins across his face as well. Upon his approach Yuna, Lulu, and Wakka gave the Yevon bow. He spoke in a gentle, slightly creepy voice.

"Lady Yuna, how are you today?" Yuna didn't say anything, but cast a sidelong glance towards the checkpoint. "I see. Allow me." The man said, and went to speak with the guard. I turned to Tidus.

"Who's he?"

"Seymour. He's a 'Master' or 'Maester' or something." He responded. At this, Lulu slapped him in the back of his head.

"Watch what you say! Show some respect, he's a Maester!"

"I know! I said that, didn't I?"

The Seymour guy returned to Yuna. "It is done." He said with a small smile.

"Thank you my lord!" she said bowing low. Seymour just nodded and continued on. As he passed the rest of us, he stared dead at me. His step faltered for a moment, but he regained it quickly, never taking his eyes off me. He kept going after that short...oddity, though, as if nothing had ever happened. I shrugged of a weird occurrence for the second time that day as the rest of the party passed through the checkpoint and continued onwards with the pilgrimage.

We didn't get to continue far, though. A guard told us Lady Yuna's is requested at the command center. By Lord Seymour, of all people. So we made our way down the strange path to where the command center for this huge operation was. We proceeded up a series of lifts until we met a man named Luzzu, who Wakka and Lulu knew from Besaid. They exchanged words (and fists on Wakka's part) before we made it the rest of the way up. Something about Lulu's dead boyfriend, but I wasn't paying that much attention. As we made to a ridge overlooking the bay, we were greeted by hundreds of machina. At this Wakka's jaw dropped, then made many angry sounds. Rikku and I glared at him for it.

"What? I got nothin' against you two, I just hate these stupid, sacrilegious OWWW!!!" He never finished his sentence, for he stubbed his toe while trying to kick one of the cannons. Not a smart thing to do while wearing sandals. At this moment Seymour made his grand entrance. The others were speaking with him about the machina, but I was just staring at him. Something about him seriously bothered me. A small shiver ran down my spine, but I had no idea what for. Then I realized those creepy gray eyes were staring right at me.

"Isn't that correct?" he asked me.

"Forgive me, I wasn't listening." I replied bluntly. He smiled slightly at this before repeating his question. "Is it not true that the Al Bhed wish for a Spira without Sin?"

"Why do you assume I'm Al Bhed?"

"Your eyes of course. You and your companion are Al Bhed, are you not?" Rikku, who at some point had moved next to me, nodded a little bit, as did I. Seymour chuckled a bit at this. "I mean you no harm, even though I may be a Maester," he said, misreading our hesitation, "Imagine my surprise when I discovered that the great 'Black Knight' was Al Bhed!"

"Life's funny sometimes, isn't it?" I responded. He smiled very oddly at this, then laughed as though something were very funny. "Indeed. Life can be...interesting sometimes. For example, I was just about to handle those fiends in the stadium myself, but you took the liberty of disposing of them for me. As you say, life can be funny sometimes." He then turned back to the others. "I'll see you all at the command center shortly. Our operation will begin as soon as you're present." He then left. Rikku turned to me as soon as he had gone.

"He really creeps me out."

"Yeah, something's weird about him. I just can't place it." Looking around, I saw the others had all pressed on without us. And so Rikku and I, leaving our concerns alone for the moment, jogged off to catch up with the group.

----------------

I cut it off right before the operation cuz I want a little bit more time to plan it out. School was out early since the power died so I had some time to work on this. I'll do my best to keep going at a decent speed. Any questions, comments, concerns, just drop me a review and I'll respond to the best of my ability next chapter. I'll c-ya guys next time!


	10. Operation Mi'ihen

Yeah, this took forever, I know. School is totally unbearable and I've still got writer's block, but your guys' reviews inspired me, so I just have to continue! It doesn't help that I FINALLY bought FF8 and am totally engrossed in it... So, let's get on with stuff! I wanna thank all the people who've reviewed since my last chapter. You guys are awesome! And sorry in advance for the crappy formatting. This thing isn't doing what I tell it to do, so I guess you guys'll just have to work with it.

**Solid Shark** – Glad you think its interesting. I try my hardest not to bore people to death with this.

**Dragoon Swordsman** – Yeah I totally love that fight scene. It reminds me of the Squall/Siefer match at the opening of FF8 now that I've actually started playing it.

**YojimbosBlade** – Thanks. I appreciate that!

**Greeneyedgirl1** – Kayla you're the best! Keep reading girl! And PLEASE be on the net from time to time, k? I can never find you anymore!

**Dragon and Sword Master** – I totally plan to expand on the Rin connection, but not too soon mind you. That ties in to the Big Picture. Him losing control should be a one-time thing. It just really fit the situation. I'll try to explain it later, but it'll be WAY later. And I'd be happy to be your beta reader. If I'm slow in responding from time to time though, forgive me. Life's gotten hectic.

**Glaciours** – Yeah there's definite backstory starting to show. It'll begin to show over the next few chapters. Thanks for sticking with me!

7777777777 (these are the page breaks for now until I can figure out better ones)

The command center wasn't much to speak of, just a bunch of tents on a cliff overlooking a bay. From what I'd overheard from the soldiers, Sin would enter the bay. Al Bhed cannons and a "Supreme Machina" would engage from the cliff, while the Chocobo Knights and the Crusaders would protect the command center and the cannons from the shore. Our job was to watch and be prepared for, as Seymour had put it, "unexpected occurrences." So we just hung around until the divisions were prepped and ready. Rikku had scrounged up a spare lightning gem for me. My sword looked the same with it in, but occasionally a few sparks would jump from the blade.

The other Maester present, a round bald little man, gave the order to release the Sinspawn. Sin must have been in the neighborhood, because it only took 10 minutes for the beast to rear its head. Things got ugly from there. Cannons began to fire, shredding Sin's skin. The pieces fell into the bay as Sinscales and began to charge the beach. We watched the fight, and watched its swift end as a power wave from Sin destroyed a full half of the beach guard. This wave also rocketed a huge Sinspawn right at us. It was at least twenty feet tall with spindly legs down its back. Huge arms graced its sides. It roared at us and stomped its feet. Wow, it looked pissed. Looks like we wouldn't just be watching after all.

Tidus scanned it as soon as it landed. Since Kimahri never seemed to speak, we managed to teach it to Tidus so the rest of us would know what's going on.

"It's called Gui!" he yelled out. "Kill the head or it'll poison us! Swords go for the arms, Lulu go for the body!" Wow, he really got his act together in a fight. So we all took his suggestion. Wakka charged up an ice ball and smashed the head. Lulu followed it with a fire spell, putting it out of the fight. It roared anyway, which was strange considering we just got its head, and began flailing its huge arms, smacking back Auron and Kimahri. Auron crashed down several feet away, but Kimahri did several flips through the air and landed quite nicely. Yuna was busy tending to Auron and Wakka, whose ball rebounded right into his face. So Tidus, Rikku and I began our game of 'tag' with the monster. It worked like this: tag the beast without getting tagged yourself. The three of us were too fast for it, but it was armored. None of us were dealing considerable damage. And arm reared up to hit us, then disappeared it a blaze of fire. Looking back, I saw Lulu smirking with smoke rising from her fingers. I nodded back and landed a hit on Gui's body, which I was pleased to learn wasn't armored. It roared in agony before kicking me with one of its stubby legs, which I had forgotten it had. They were strong for being so small though. I flew about ten feet and landed flat on my back. Rikku, now out of work since Lulu had blown up the other arm, flew to my side faster than I thought possible. She pulled a small vial that looked almost like a potion, but not quite.

"Drink this!"

"What is it?"

"It's an Al Bhed potion! Now hurry up before it tries to get you again!"

I allowed her to pour it down my throat; I wasn't feeling that great so I wasn't about to argue. In like two seconds I felt a thousand percent better. I smiled gratefully before hopping up to continue my job. In my few moments down Gui had managed to find itself some new arms. None of the fighters could get back to the body, and we didn't have the energy left to tear through its arms again. I had one last idea.

Charging straight for the body, at the last second I spun to the left and rolled under the arm, coming up behind where it couldn't defend. I slashed its back twice, then plunged my gunblade all the way in. The Sinspawn screamed in rage and spun halfway around, taking my sword with it. Lulu, seeing the opportunity, fired a thunder spell right for the blade. It landed on the handle, following the blade inside and frying Gui's innards. I grabbed my blade as soon as the spell had passed, and not a second too soon. Gui stomped the ground and fell back from the cliff edge I was right next to. His stomping however, had weakened the rocks at the edge of the cliff. The ground beneath me began to give way, and before I could move to get away, it splintered from the cliff with me still on it. I heard Rikku cry out for me. The others looked on in horror, but Yuna seemed to be concentrating on something. Just as I lost sight of them I saw four white balls go shooting into the sky.

I was a long way above the sea. I saw the ground fight still raging below me. Though the Chocobo Knights had been hit hard by Sin's blast, most of the Crusaders were still able to fight. The Sinscales were getting the better of them, and the soldiers were beating a steady retreat from the shore. After viewing the ground where I was to meet my death, I looked back to the sky, not wanting my last sight to be the ground rushing to meet me. The bird-like bullet racing towards me rescued me from my near end though. Valefor caught me very close to the ground and set me down amidst the fight. I expected it to stay and help, but at that moment it snapped its head upwards and took off for the command center. Guess Yuna needed some assistance. I however, was stuck in the middle of a losing fight. I immediately began to hack my way through the masses around me hoping to get to some allies. That small bit of lightningstrike Rikku got for my gunblade was really paying off. The Sinscales were wet, so every time I hit one I managed to stun it as well. Within a few minutes I had found my way to the Crusaders' rendezvous point. Everyone stayed very close together to watch everyone else's backs, and we were doing pretty well for ourselves. With Sin so close producing more scales though, it was only a matter of time.

The next thing I remember hearing was the rending noise of metal on metal. I looked towards the huge machina tower to see it split in half.

_They should have used the other one._

I had no idea where that thought had come from, but I couldn't dwell on it now. The Sinscales were driving us back even farther. Sin had finally turned to leave, and now that it was out of range of the cannons, they turned on the scales around the shore. With the cover fire, we dispatched of the remaining scales pretty quick. Exhausted, worried, and confused, I welcomed the darkness that over took me amongst the cheers of the survivors.

77777

I awoke to a nearly empty beach. I wasn't sure how long I'd been out, but it must have been long enough for the remaining Crusaders to clear out. Only the dead remained.

'Evidently they thought I was dead,' I thought as I rose to my feet. After five minutes of exploring the battle-scarred beach, I saw a few familiar faces. Namely my friends. They were now on the beach for some reason. Everyone was knocked out at the moment. Tidus was awake, but he was yelling something and swimming out to sea. Whatever. The only person I didn't see was Rikku. At that moment I was spun around and crushed in the biggest hug I've ever gotten in my life. Rikku had her face buried in my chest, and when she finally pulled back to look at me I saw tearstains on her face.

"I thought you were dead..." she managed to choke out before latching herself onto me again. I didn't say anything; I just let her hug me. When she finally let go she seemed in control of herself again.

"Arek?"

"Yeah?"

"Don't. EVER. Scare me like that again, k?"

"Deal."

77777

No one really felt like speaking. We were nearly to the Djose Temple, and I hadn't heard anyone speak a word since the beach. Yuna had sent the fallen soldiers. Rikku walked very close to me the whole way, like she was afraid I'd just drop dead or something. We arrived at the temple around dusk. Yuna was the one to break the silence.

"Djose, the Temple of Lightning. They say the prayer of the faithful will open the way." She said before making the Yevon Prayer.

"Lightning?" Rikku asked, her voice quavering just a little bit. No one had the chance to respond to her pointless question though, for at that moment the rock formation before us exploded, the boulders held together by thick strands of electricity. Everyone jumped a little at this, some more than others. When we went to go inside we were stopped again by the guards.

"How dare you Al Bhed desecrate this holy ground! Get out of here now, before I..." But he never got to tell us what he'd do, because I grabbed him by the throat and lifted him off the ground. His face was less than half a foot from mine, and I held him there while I explained our situation in an even, yet very dangerous tone.

"Now listen and listen good, you piece of crap. I've just been to hell and back. I've been nearly killed, fought for hours, seen more death in a day then you'll see in your LIFETIME, and now you've got the guts to tell a Guardian to get lost? I'm gonna put you down, and if you so much as LOOK at me funny, I'll slice your head clean off and give you assholes another reason to hate our people. Got it?"

He nodded dumbly, in total shock. He probably wet himself. Instead of setting him down nicely though, I dropped him, letting him crash to the ground with a thump. He never said a word though. Nor did anyone else. After we had gotten inside, Auron turned to me.

"I understand you're upset, but control yourself. Though what you did was by all means justified, Yuna will be held responsible." I didn't even nod, just kept walking.

77777

The cloister went by fast, except for Rikku's strange mood. She was easily as pale as Lulu and she still wasn't speaking, even though my temple-boy beat down had shaken the others out of their little stupor. When we got to the antechamber outside of the Fayth's room, and everyone collapsed, Rikku doing so sweating all over and shaking just a little. I was sitting near Wakka and Tidus and we talked for a bit while waiting.

"That other summoner seemed like a nice guy." Tidus mentioned.

"Ya. Issaru was his name, wasn't it?" Wakka asked.

"Yeah, that sounds about right."

"It's kind of morbid though, racing to defeat Sin, don't you guys think?" I asked.

"Hunh? How so?" Tidus said. Oops. Tidus didn't know, did he?

"Never mind. I'm just thinking too hard."

77777

Yuna was done with the Fayth within the hour, and Ixion was ours. It was after dark by now though, and a very nasty storm had kicked up, so we decided to stay at the temple once again. One of the priests showed us to the summoner's rooms. They were upstairs through a door just inside the cloister. The rooms all had windows that allowed a view of the grounds outside the temple. Every so often a stray lightning bolt would drift down and flicker past. We all had separate rooms again, so I settled down in mine and stared out the window thinking. What exactly had I meant when I thought 'They should have used the other one?' I pondered this for a few minutes to no avail, so I gave up and scrounged around for something to do. I found a copy of "Spiran Digest" in a drawer and had just opened it when there was a knock at the door. Getting up to answer it, I was surprised at what I saw.

Rikku.

"Can I come in?" she asked timidly. I opened the door the rest of the way to allow her inside. She had only made it a few steps when a crash of thunder drove her to the ground shaking. I ran over to her, almost thinking she was joking were it not for her strange mood all day.

"Are you okay?"

"No! I hate lightning! I hate thunder! I want to go home!" she exclaimed softly. A tear slid down her cheek. I felt so bad for her.

"Hey, it's okay. We'll be fine here," I told her gently. "Besides, I'll protect you. It'll be fine."

She looked at me for a minute before nodding. "Okay, but... can I stay with you? Just for tonight?" she asked in almost a whisper.

I just smiled and picked her up, plopping her onto the bed. She giggled a little at this, which brought a smile to my face. At least she was feeling a little better. We lay in bed, reading that magazine together and commenting on everything from the ignorant Al Bhed hater in the "Letters to the Editor" to the feature article "100% of Spirans Agree Baseball will _never_ beat Blitzball."

"Nice jammies," I told her. "Where'd you get 'em?"

"Found them in my closet! Cute, aren't they?" Indeed they were. They were light blue with cartoon chocobos all over them. Why they'd keep these at a temple I'll never know, but they sure made Rikku look cute. Well, cuter than she already is.

_Wait, did I really just think that?_

A huge blast of thunder cracked outside the temple, and Rikku chucked the magazine and dove for the closest thing – me. She buried her face in my chest and shook. I couldn't help myself when I put my arm around her. I couldn't fight the urge to pull her close. There was no way I couldn't hold her and keep her safe. So I did. Even after the thunder passed, we stayed like that. Right before we fell asleep in each other's arms I heard her say one thing.

"...my guardian."

7777777777

Awwww, how cute! I got just as far as I'd planned to. Go me! I'll try to start on the next chapter soon, but I don't know what to do aside from moving the main plot. Review cuz I'll love you guys for it and I'll see ya next time!


	11. To Guadosalam

'Sup. Life's been bad. Sorry I haven't had time to do much with this. I'm trying to get to a point where I can move the plot along, but we'll see how it goes. Thanks to my 4 reviewers for chapter 10. You guys have stuck with me this whole story so far and I really appreciate it! OH YEAH, the one part involving Wakka was inspired by the story Hu Syddan Fryd. It's one of the best Aurikkus I've ever read. Read it, you won't be disappointed. The part from my story came from I think the end of chapter 17 or 18. So kudos to Rhianna-Aurora, cuz your story rocks! I'm not gonna bore you guys with this note anymore, so let's get started!

---------------

I awoke the next morning to find something snuggled into my side. A Rikku-something. I don't think she let go of me the whole night even though the storm had probably stopped about halfway through. Her head was buried into my chest and she had her arms wrapped around me, sleeping peacefully. I didn't want to wake her up by moving, so I just stayed there and thought about stuff. Mainly about her. She said we're just friends, but this certainly suggests otherwise, doesn't it? I had to admit, it was very nice having someone to curl up next to like this. I was admiring the way her bed hair even looked cute when she began to stir. She groaned a little bit and shifted around, maybe planning on sleeping a bit longer, before she realized she wasn't laying on a pillow. She slowly turned her head up to face me, a hint of a smile and maybe just a little worry showing on her face. Perhaps she thought I'd be mad. But I hardly see why I would.

"Good morning, Sunshine," I said softly to her, grinning to show I wasn't mad in the least.

"Hi." She said sleepily in return. "Sleep good?"

"Very good," I told her.

_Because I was sleeping next to an angel._ Wait, did I just think that? "Uh, Rikku, we need to get going, and I kind of can't move..."

"Oopsie!" she exclaimed, jumping back faster than I've liked. I'm not gonna bite, Rikku. Whatever. I rolled out of bed on the other side and began searching for where I threw my shirt. I don't like to wear it when I sleep, and having Rikku in the same room wasn't changing anything. I thought I threw it on the chair in the corner of the room, but no such luck. As I walked past the end of the bed, the corner grabbed a part of my pants and tugged them loose. I'll never figure out how. Rikku's back was turned at the moment, thank goodness. I thought I was in the clear, but that was the moment Wakka chose to give us his wake up call.

The poor guy didn't even know Rikku had spent the night with me. So needless to say he was a bit shocked when he flung the door open to see Rikku, who had just finished changing into her regular clothes, tying her boots back up sitting on the edge of the bed, and me standing in only my boxers trying to get my pants back on. It didn't look flattering in the least.

"OH MAN...! I... YOU... IT... Yevon, I am SO sorry ya! I didn't see nothin', I swear! Arek, come on out when your ready ya! Rikku you too!" With that he yanked the door shut. You could hear his running steps charging down the hall. The shock had worn off now and I just got my pants back up when Rikku turned around and questioned me.

"What? It's not like we did anything. So why was he all worked up?"

"...I have no idea..."

Rikku had pulled me aside before leaving the room and thanked me again for staying with her last night, pulling me into another bone crushing hug, which this time I returned. I noticed something hanging out of her pack.

"Are those the temple pajamas?"

"Umm... yeah!" she said, grinning sheepishly. "I really like 'em!" With that she left to meet everyone else by the front door. Still a kid sometimes, I guess.

-------

Wakka gave us funny looks all the way along the path to the Moonflow. I just shook my head when I first saw him outside the temple, and he either saw it as me answering 'no' to his unspoken question, or he thought I didn't want to talk about it. Either way he shut up, so I was happy about it. The doorman who I threatened yesterday was on duty again. I just grinned evilly as we passed him, watching with satisfaction as all the color drained from his face. Rikku laughed very hard at this. Auron looked less than pleased. This started Rikku's constant teasing, which was soon joined by me and even Yuna, about how Auron was, as Rikku put it, a "grumpy-pants." The whole way to the Moonflow, all that was heard was our bugging Auron, his monotone response of "Stop that," and laughter from the others. Even Lulu found it funny. When Auron threatened us with a "World of pain," we took the hint and shut up.

The trip along the Moonflow path otherwise passed with no incident. We made it to the Moonflow itself by about noon. It's hard to tell if the Moonflow is a river or a small lake. It looked like a river to me, just very wide with no current to speak of. Lulu, drawing from her huge bank of tidbits about Spira, explained about the dance of the pyreflies across the water's surface at night. I swear, the only person who could possibly know more about this place would be that little old man in green who seems to be stalking us. Every time we end up anywhere, Tidus just has to ask him for a story, then he goes on until no one remembers what was even asked. Anyways...

"Hey, I've got an idea!" Tidus exclaimed after hearing about the nightly display.

"We're not spending the night here." Auron, of course.

"Come on!"

"No."

"Auron!"

"No."

"It's about lunch time. How about we eat here? Its no light show but the scenery's still nice," I brought up, breaking the stupid argument taking place before us.

"Great idea Arek! Yay! Foodfoodfoodfood!" Rikku yelled as she danced around.

"Someone had too much sugar for breakfast."

"Crid ib Arek!"

-------

We ate a good lunch and crossed the Moonflow without a problem. The ruins beneath the water were amazing. Wakka of all people had information on those. Shoopufs were very strange. This was the first time I had ever seen one. Auron's story about how Jecht had attacked one was very funny. The Hypellos were amusing too. They seemed nice enough, and their accents just made you laugh. Quietly, of course.

After departing from the north wharf, we passed through some woods along a winding trail. The fiends were tough, but not too tough. Rikku stocked up on loads of stolen goods, and all of us got some needed experience fighting. There hadn't been much fiend activity that day until now. Rikku tried to use Auron's sword. We all had a good laugh when she couldn't even lift it properly. Despite the fact we were all laughing, she came after me. So with Rikku chasing me, me mock-running for dear life, and the whole party laughing at the two of us, we entered the Guado city of Guadosalam. We made it in right at sunset. Despite the purpose of the Pilgrimage hanging over all our heads, I think its safe to say everyone was focused more on the beauty of the day than on the end we were drawing closer to.

---------------

It was rushed, I know. I'm trying to move the story along some cuz I have to wait a little longer to bring out the plot. Then it'll just be like BOOM, PLOT! and everyone'll know what's going on. But that won't be for a bit, so for now just hang tight and enjoy the fun. Review for me, and if you have any more fun ideas for me to try and work in I'll be happy to try and do so. Peace out everyone.

I NEED A GOOD AL BHED FIRST NAME!!! Put in your review. Not something like Ropp or Blappa where it's already in FFX somewhere. I won't say why yet, but it may have something to do with the story later... Whoever's idea I take will get a big thanks, and maybe I'll dedicate a chapter to you or something. We'll see. But I REALLY NEED THE HELP!!!


	12. New Pieces and More Questions

Ok, this should be longer than last time. I don't have a whole lot of ideas, but I'm just gonna roll with it and see what comes to mind. Thanks to my four reviewers who've stayed with me the whole way, **Dragoon Swordsman**, **Dragon and Sword Master**, **Solid Shark**, and **Glaciours**. Much obliged, you guys! And to the **"plez go on" guy**. Different, but I still appreciate it! And thanks to **milkie** for the review just like a day ago. Now let's git 'er done!

I STILL NEED AN AL-BHED NAME!!! HELP ME OUT GUYS!!! I DON'T LIKE THINKING!!!

----------

No sooner then we had set foot upon the wooded walkways of Guadosalam did a resident of the city approach us. He was rather tall, though not as slim as many Guado I had seen up till now. In fact, he'd probably be fat by Guado standards. He had the same long, oversized arms and hands that their kind seemed to be cursed with. His twisty green hair had probably broken more hairbrushes than there were trees surrounding Kilika. He bowed upon his arrival and addressed himself to Yuna.

"My lady! Lord Seymour wishes an audience with you! Please my lady, this way!" He reached for her hand but Tidus intervened. "Ah, my apologies! Allow me to introduce myself. I am Tromell Guado, personal assistant to the late Lord Jyscal Guado, and assistant to Lord Seymour. I have..."

I intervened. "Umm, yeah Tromell? We've been traveling all day. I'm sure Yuna... er, Lady Yuna wishes to rest. Right?" I looked at her for approval. I was tired and I didn't want to see Seymour again so soon. Something about him... Anyway, Yuna nodded in agreement, so I continued. "Could you point us in the direction of the inn so we can rest? We'll deal with... er, meet with Lord Seymour in the morning." It was all I could do to keep the sarcasm from dripping off my tongue on that 'Lord Seymour' part.

"Oh dear me, I should have known the summoner's pilgrimage would be trying. Forgive me. Please, rest! I'll have someone send for you in the morning." Tromell left, and we were free for the rest of the evening. Of course Auron, Kimahri, Lulu, Wakka, and Yuna all decided to rest like I had suggested. That left Rikku, Tidus, and I to tear the town up. We came back and went to bed in about ten minutes after realizing that there was nothing to do, and no real town to tear up. Guadosalam was small and boring. There were enough rooms for all of us to have our own, and Rikku left for hers upon getting the key. But she was nice enough to say goodnight to me first. That got Tidus started on us. And that earned Tidus a lump on his head.

-----

Tromell was true to his word, and a new Guado was at the reception desk of the inn looking for us bright and early. Auron had been up and he came and got all of us up. Why he was up I'll never know. It's as if he doesn't sleep. I was nice and comfortable when I hear a BANG from the door being flung open and a quiet but powerful "get up." After several more BANGs and quiet repetitions of "get up", we were all ready to go. Cold, tired, and hungry, we piled into the lobby to head towards Seymour's "grand estate."

We arrived and Yuna commenced in mindless polite banter with Tromell. Upon seeing the way Rikku was eying the fruit in the banquet hall, he told us all "Eat, eat! Our food is yours!" Rikku literally _dove_ for the table and began chowing down. This earned a disapproving stare from most of the people in the room. I just smiled at the sacrilege of destroying a Maester's private fruit supply and joined in, eating more politely. The others were conversing about unknown things when Seymour made his grand entrance from a room in back.

"Tromell, enough. Must I always endure such praise?" Evidently everyone else was talking about Seymour. For some reason his voice went right through me. I found myself clenching the Guado apple in my hand much harder than I needed to. Rikku was looking at me funny. Then I realized I was almost shaking and had my jaw clamped so hard it was hurting my teeth. I relaxed and took a bite of the apple. What about him made me so mad?

"I welcome you all to my... humble abode. Make yourselves at home. There's no need to rush. We can attend to business later."

"Yuna must rush." Auron bluntly reminded him.

"Just for a little while then. I can provide an escort later if necessary to make up lost time. Surely you are still tired. You could use some rest." Auron simply 'hmphed' and walked away. The others engaged in conversation with Seymour while Rikku and I moved away. Leaning against the wall, we spoke in slightly hushed tones about our new quote-unquote friend.

"I don't like him at all Arek. Something about him seems... wrong. He's just too polite!"

"Well, that comes with the job of being a leader. But I agree, something's weird about him. I can't place it, but... I don't know. It's like I know him from before, but it's lost with everything else."

"I don't know. Even if you forgot everything, wouldn't you at least remember his face, even if you didn't remember anything about him?"

"... I guess you're right. Wow, pretty deep for you Rikks!"

"Hey, watch it!" she said, turning a little pink.

"Am I... interrupting something?" That voice. Turning, we both saw Mr. Blue Hair standing before us. "Not at all," I replied, "Something you want to discuss?"

"I only wish to talk. It's been a while since we've seen each other Arek," he said with one of his creepy smiles.

"Really? It's only been a few days. We were both at Operation Mi'ihen, am I right?"

"... Yes, you're right, of course. Forgive me, I'm... _forgetful _sometimes. But I'm sure we all have spells of forgetfulness sometimes, Arek. I'm sure you've been there too."

"... Yes, I believe I have. If you'll excuse me, Rikku and I need to go buy some potions and supplies. It's a long trip to the next city as far as I know."

"It's not so far. There's an outpost in the Thunder Plains most travelers stay at." Rikku visibly flinched at "Thunder Plains."

"Even so, it never hurts to be prepared. If you'll excuse us..."

"Very good then. A pleasure as always Arek," he said with that creepy smile again before turning to the rest of the party. Rikku and I left.

We didn't speak most of the way to get the potions. I didn't really want to do anything, I wouldn't have put it past that creep to have someone follow us and question us later if we had done anything else. Dammit, _how could he have known?_

Rikku must have seen the pained look on my face, for she questioned it. "Arek? Arek...?"

"Yeah."

"... Are you okay?"

"... No. How could he have known about my memory? No one but our party knows about it. No one but our party knows I even had a past at all before I became a guardian. How could he have known?!?!"

I said that last part louder than I intended, drawing the attention of a few close passers-by. After they went back to their business, Rikku spoke again. "Maybe you knew each other?"

"Well we had to, didn't we? How else would he have known? It couldn't have been on good terms either. Or were you about to point out that obvious revelation too?" I exclaimed rather sharply. I immediately knew I had put my foot, no, my whole leg in my mouth. "Rikku, I'm sorry, I just..."

"NO. Just, leave me alone, okay?" she said, tears starting to shimmer in the corners of her eyes. I didn't even get a chance to explain anything. She just bolted. Damn. Nothing's going right. Screw the potions. I had to find her.

Fortunately, that didn't take long. The city, if you could even call it that, was so small that after about five minutes I found her sitting on the edge of a balcony, staring at nothing, her shoulders shaking every few seconds from repressed sobs. I didn't sit down. That would be out of place. I just stood there and waited to see what she had to say. Nothing. That's fine; I needed to do the talking anyways.

"...I'm sorry Rikku. It's not your fault. This is just... real hard for me. I'm having a hard time here, and I took it out on you. I shouldn't have. Forgive me?"

"..."

"Look, here's what I'm going through. I can't remember how I know that guy, but I know something's seriously wrong with him and I don't know what and we never found out what he wanted with Yuna and I'm worried for her and you and me and the rest of us because I don't know what he's capable of if he's even an enemy at all but I'm pretty sure he is and..."

"Stop! I get it already! You're forgiven, but try that again and I'll sock you one!"

"Deal. You're my best bud Rikku. I don't want you mad at me like that, you know?"

At this she spun and lunged off the railing she was perched on and tackle hugged me. After I had the chance to register her new mood swing, I returned it. "You know Rikku, you're about the only person I've met so far that... I don't know how to put it..."

"That you absolutely positively can't live without?" she said, looking up at me with a big goofy grin.

"Yeah." I said quietly, so quietly I'm not even sure she heard me. Before I could even be sure she did...

"Hey kids, break it up and let's go! We're going to the Farplane, whatever that is." Tidus, of course.

"Stuff it, Tidus!" I yelled back in response. Rikku finally detached from her bear hug embrace and charged off for the others, who had just emerged seconds ago from Seymour's little palace and were heading toward another part of town. I headed over to join the others, but if they spoke to me I never heard them. I was too busy thinking about how much I cared for my new friend. But I was pretty sure she only thought of me as a brother. The way she told me on the Highroad that we were just friends. That she looked to me for protection, as she would with a sibling. That when the conversation came up that I couldn't live without her she brought it up only in jest. The fact is she needs a decent sibling compared to that good-for-nothing Brother she has.

I stopped dead in my tracks. _Ur cred_, I did it again. Something else had just sifted through the curtain of my past, peeking a limb out then swiftly drawing it back in. How in Spira did I know she had a brother, much less know his competency as a sibling? By the time I had run through all this in my head, we were at a huge staircase leading to a bubbly looking membrane. Wakka was talking with Tidus about something.

"You thinkin' those funny thoughts again, ya? Don't worry, you'll see when we get there."

I turned to Rikku. She knew a decent amount about... a decent amount. Maybe she'd know about this. "This is the same Farplane you told me about in Kilika, right?"

"Yup! It's creepy. I'm not going in."

"Hey, why not Rikku?" Tidus said, evidently eavesdropping on us.

"Memories are nice, but that's all they are. I like to keep my memories inside."

"Oh. Okay, I guess." By now we were on the steps. Auron had an excuse as well, and he had taken a seat on the railing on one side. Rikku and I stood at the back of the group as they disappeared through the barrier. It was interesting looking, the way the colors danced... it was so beautiful... Before I knew it I had taken a step forwards. It was almost hypnotic. I just wanted to touch it... It was so serene, the way the colors danced... Just then I felt something grab me and spin me around and out of my trance.

Rikku was holding me at arm's length and looking at me weird. "Hey, you still in there?" she asked, lightly tapping my head. "I only called your name three times you know!" Auron was staring at me.

"Oh, sorry Rikku, I was just gonna go in. What did you need?"

"Actually I was hoping you could stay here. It'll be boring and I don't think Grumpy-butt wants to talk." Auron grunted in annoyance at this and turned back to stare at the nothingness he seemed so fond of. "See? Come on, we'll have more time to talk! It'll be nice."

"Well, okay. I'm sure the Farplane's nothing special anyway."

-----

We didn't talk about anything special, but that was good because I was really deep in thought about all the stuff that had been up. The Farplane had a strange effect on me, but it was probably nothing, I eventually decided. So many strange things had been going on that adding one more seemed much more normal than it should have. By now if flying blue muffins that only I could see started following me I doubt I'd be surprised.

The others finally came out of the shimmering barrier after about twenty minutes. Rikku yelled, "Race!" and took off running. I followed, but neither of us got far before we heard yelps of surprise behind us. Something was starting to come out of the barrier! I could hear Auron's voice best above everyone else's.

"He is Lord Jyscal no more. Send him. Now!" Yuna began dancing again, and Rikku and I watched from a distance as Auron, behind everyone else, dropped to his knees in agony. Neither of us knew what it meant, and no one else saw it, all of them being too transfixed by the spectacle of an undead Guado before them. Once the event was all said and done, everyone joined Rikku and I. The mood for racing was kind of killed by the weird event we'd just witnessed.

When we arrived at Seymour's once more, we came to find out that he'd skipped town to go to the next temple. We were told he'd be waiting for us there. Fine by me, I didn't want to see him again. We had all congregated near the exit of town, when by chance a metallic gleam caught my eye. Turning fully to see its source, I spotted a man about halfway across the plaza. Wearing a gunblade on his back just like mine. It was obvious he was Al Bhed, which was already out of place in a Guado town. His eyes, covered in goggles, may have been hidden, but his blond hair and clothes gave his race away. His jumpsuit looked like something you'd wear to work on a machina. It was multicolored, but mostly yellow with some white and black, and covered by black pants and a black jacket zipped up halfway. You could see the bottom of the jumpsuit leading into his black boots. A red number '16' was stitched in small digits over the left breast. The clothing he wore over the jumpsuit looked reminiscent of my old clothes. Those boots, in fact, they looked just... like...my old ones...

I was after him in a flash. I heard shouts from my friends behind me, but I didn't stop. He must have been watching me, for he took off barely a second after I began moving. He tried to lose me in the city, but it was a small place and I'd been there all day, long enough to know my way around it. I took a shortcut towards the entrance I had arrived at the other day. With everyone else at the other exit, he'd be stupid to try and get past them. My hunch proved right and a caught him in the huge entrance room just before the path opened into the woods. I checked him into the wall and held him there. He struggled for a second, but I reared back and throttled him again and he stopped thrashing, breathing heavily.

"Lussyhtan Arek..."

"Fru yna oui yht fryd tu oui fyhd fedr sa?" I asked, reverting to Al Bhed since I really didn't know if he spoke Spiran of not. He didn't reply. "Yhcfan sa, tysh oui!" I yelled.

"Dra Pucc fyhdat du syga cina ajanodrehk fyc ugyo fedr oui... ra fyc luhlanhat frah oui teth'd lralg eh."

"Fro tet oui lymm sa lussyhtan?"

"..."

"Fro?"

"Palyica oui yna dra lussyhtan, cen." After a second of stunned silence, I spoke up again.

"Fru'c dra pucc cbuga uv?"

"Ihdem oui nasaspan uh ouin ufh E lyh'd cbayg uv ed. Ed'c nakimydeuhc. Bmayca vunkeja sa vun drec cen." The wind was then violently knocked out of me. Reeling, I released him and stumbled backwards. Before I could get a hold of him and pry more out, he dropped a smokebomb and disappeared into the fog. Great. The puzzle just had about a thousand more pieces added to it. If it were a real puzzle I doubt it'd fit into the huge room I was standing in. Grasping my stomach lightly were he'd hit me, I walked back to the group, who had never even moved from where they were before I ran off. Once I arrived we started onwards. Then the interrogation began.

"Arek, what was that about?"

"Yeah, who was he?"

"Tell us, ya?"

Too many questions all at once again. "HEY!" They all fell silent. "He just looked familiar is all. I wanted to see if maybe he knew me."

"But why would he run off like that? It makes no sense," Tidus thought out loud.

"Did you catch him?" Yuna asked.

"... No, I never did. He was really fast." Rikku was looking at me. I could read her expression. _What aren't you telling?_ I flashed her a tiny smile to say _I'll tell you later._ I'd tell her before I considered telling anyone else. She knew everything that had been up so far.

"Oh no, we're here..." The Thunder Plains. Rikku started freaking out.

"How are we supposed to cross that?" Tidus inquired.

"See the lightning towers? We cross not too close and not too far away from them. They will draw the lightning," Lulu said, "hopefully..." I didn't like that afterthought. Rikku didn't either, because she turned even paler than she already was.

Our crossing was incredibly difficult. For the most part, Wakka and Lulu did hit-and-run fighting while charging for the safety of the next lightning tower. Auron stayed right next to Yuna and they were escorted by Lulu and Wakka. Tidus and I plus Rikku (she insisted on staying near me) played break off and engage whenever fiends came about. We'd be able to dodge the lightning the best in the open field. Yuna cast Nul-Shock on us in the distance, so even when the occasional undodgeable bolt found its mark on us, it didn't hurt. By the time we had gotten about half way across the field, Rikku finally lost her nerve. Freaking out, she starting laughing uncontrollably and lunged for my leg. I felt really bad for her, but there wasn't much I could do. I had no clue about how to make this easier for her.

"There's an inn there! Can we rest? Please?"

"This storm never ends. Better to cross quickly." Auron, of course.

"Please, just for a little while?" No one else said anything. "Please? I'm scared!" Still nothing. She looked about ready to cry.

"Well, I'm staying with her. If you guys don't want to, I'm sure we'll catch up eventually, but it won't be fun crossing this place with only one point man. I doubt Tidus could do the job by himself." Everyone looked at Tidus, expecting some sort of comeback. But, soaked in rain, tired, and miserable looking, Tidus looked relieved to hear about the thought of resting.

"He's got a good point guys. It's not too late, so let's just stay for like an hour or two. It'll be good for everyone!"

"Hmph! Threatening to compromise your Summoner's safety? You two are poor excuses for Guardians."

"Everyone's scared of something, Auron. Don't you have any sympathy? Rikku's a person too! We have a duty to her too as her friends! Screw being a poor excuse for a Guardian! It's better than being a poor excuse for a friend!" Auron didn't respond, just 'hmphed' again and began walking in the direction of the inn. Rikku had stood up and was now clasped around my chest. I unzipped my jacket and let her inside it, even though it wouldn't keep her very warm or repel too much rain. It's the thought that counts, right?

We all checked in to the inn, and Yuna went straight for a room. Seeing as there was one other room available, I took Rikku back there hoping to get her to sleep. I doubted she would; you could still hear the thunder through the walls and ceiling. When we got to the room, she let go and flopped down on the bed. She didn't even stay there for two seconds when she got up and headed for the bathroom, but only went about three steps before turning and heading towards a chair, then after about three more steps turning back around and dropping back down onto the bed again. I was about to walk out when I heard from behind me -

"Stay. Please..." Not thinking twice, I turned back into the room and crashed on the other side of the bed. We both laid there in contented silence for a moment, then a huge clap of thunder had her scrambling into my arms. I just held her, rocking her gently and telling her everything was okay. She relaxed after a few minutes, and we stayed like that for the next half hour. Everything was perfect for that time. We never heard the thunder, never heard anything but the beating of our hearts pressed so close together. After a while, she broke the silence.

"Arek?" she said quietly.

"Yeah?" I responded in a near whisper.

"Thanks. For being there for me."

"Anytime. I could say the same to you." She giggled just a little at this, turning up to look me in the eyes. She was so beautiful. I couldn't put into words my feelings for her, but my body seemed to know what to do. Leaning down slowly, perhaps she saw my intent. She turned her head up to meet me. Her eyes fluttered shut. Our lips were inches apart...

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I'm bad at writing romance so I hope that last part was good enough. I tried to make up for my last crappy chapter with this. It was close to 4000 words so I'm pretty happy. 9 pages. I'll go ahead and put translations down here cuz it sucks to not speak fluent Al Bhed and then try to read it without help. Did I add enough plot to keep you sick with anticipation? HAHA, I'M DEVIOUS! Wow, complex word... lol, I'm high on caramel apple sugar right now. Mmmm, apple... Um, anyways, review for me, HELP ME WITH THAT AL BHED NAME, and BIG THANKS TO GLACIOURS FOR THE IDEAS CONCERNING BROTHER, WHICH I WILL BE USING SOME OF LATER!!! Okay, I think that's it. Peace out everyone! Oh, and I might do like 3 songfics, one for each of the FFX-2 girls. If you like the idea tell me and I'll start putting them together. Okay, now I'm done for real.

Lussyhtan Arek... - Commander Arek...

Fru yna oui yht fryd tu oui fyhd fedr sa? - Who are you and what do you want with me?

Yhcfan sa, tysh oui! - Answer me, damn you!

Dra Pucc fyhdat du syga cina ajanodrehk fyc ugyo fedr oui... ra fyc luhlanhat frah oui teth'd lralg eh. - The Boss wanted to make sure everything was okay with you... he was concerned when you didn't check in.

Fro tet oui lymm sa lussyhtan? - Why did you call me commander?

Fro? - Why?

Palyica oui yna dra lussyhtan, cen. - Because you are the commander, sir.

Fru'c dra pucc cbuga uv? - Who's the boss spoke of?

Ihdem oui nasaspan uh ouin ufh E lyh'd cbayg uv ed. Ed'c nakimydeuhc. Bmayca vunkeja sa vun drec cen. - Until you remember on your own I can't speak of it. It's regulations. Please forgive me for this sir.


	13. A Budding Relationship

Yeah, yeah, it's been forever since I've updated. I know. I've had no inspiration and it's been hard to do anything recently, much less write. At the bottom of the page I'll try to remember to put how long it takes to do this chapter just to prove that point. Thanks again to my reviewers. I'm up to 50 reviews, and I've been neglecting you guys. Sorry, I really should have updated faster. **Dragoon Swordsman**, **Dragon and Sword Master**, **Solid Shark**, **YojimbosBlade**, and **Lenne** are all awesome for reviewing! Okay, let's try and get going.

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BANG.

The door flew open, and by reflex we flew apart. Wakka's frame was outlined in the doorway. "Hey guys, we're gettin' ready to move out, ya? Get goin'!"

"Wakka?" I responded.

"Ya?"

"KNOCK NEXT TIME." I said dangerously. I think I could have scared Auron with the look I gave him. He nodded meekly and backed out of the room. His running footsteps thundered down the hall and out of hearing range. Good riddance. Wakka was a good guy, but he was a few players short of a Blitzball game sometimes. By now Rikku had made her way towards the exit as well. Before she could leave I grabbed her by the arm and pulled her back and into a kiss. I wasn't about to let her walk away; I wanted to know if she cared about me the way I cared about her. She must have known it was coming for she kissed back without hesitation. It wasn't hard or forced, but instead gentle and warm; it was full of the joy and relief of knowing we had mutual feelings.

We parted a few second later, and I told her quietly, "Rikku, how ever long you want me here for you, I'll be there, okay? No matter what."

"Hmm… How about forever then?" she said smiling before stretching up to give me a peck on the nose. With that she left the room, the storm outside forgotten. I smiled as well, looking through the empty doorway where she had just departed.

"Forever it is then."

-------

"Everyone, I've decided to marry." Yuna had pulled us off the road and under the shelter of a dilapidated lightning tower. We huddled underneath the little cover it provided, and the whole time all I could think about was 'I can SEE the woods from here!'

"As I thought." Auron said. "Just one thing…"

"I will not stop my Pilgrimage."

"Then it is…fine."

"Wait a second Auron, you can't tell me you're okay with this?!" Tidus yelled at the older man. Rikku and I, standing farther back, shared a knowing look and a short laugh at his reaction.

"I think someone's jealous…" I whispered to her.

"Hehe, totally."

Auron had walked off towards the forest. Rikku wanted to speak with Yuna, so I ran ahead of the group to catch Auron. He was waiting just inside the woods, evidently not wanting to go too far away from the group. I called out to him as soon as I got near.

"Auron, do you really not care that Yuna's getting married to that guy?"

"Yuna will continue her pilgrimage. If she completes it, marriage will be of little consequence."

"Do you even hear yourself? Do you even care that she'll die?"

"Yuna made this choice herself. I have no right to stop her. Neither do you, nor Rikku, nor anyone else."

"…You're hiding something Auron."

"Excuse me?"

"No one, not even you, can be that heartless. You know something."

"There's a difference between being heartless and being sensible. We both know how this journey will end. There's no sense in denying it." With that he left. Turning, I saw the rest of the group approaching.

_What do you know, Auron? And why won't you tell?_

-------

Macalania Woods was a strange place. We had been following the twisting wooden path for hours but seemed no closer to an exit. We were currently high above the forest floor and Tidus was playing a game taught to us by a huge birdman with a harp. Rikku and I had time to talk while he was entertaining himself and while the others were resting.

"So…" she started, lying down with her back against a tree.

"So what?" I said, sitting down next to her. To my surprise, she immediately leaned over and laid her head in my lap. I unconsciously started running my hands through her hair and playing with it. She purred a little and gave a huge contented smile.

"Tell me about that guy. You know, in Guadosalam." I shrugged a little.

"Not much to tell. Evidently I was his commander. He slipped away before I could get more out of him."

"You were his commander? What exactly did you command?"

"No clue."

"Ah."

"Yep."

We sat in silence for a little longer while Tidus played his butterfly game. We got a little farther in before Auron stopped us. He sliced into the underbrush to show us a sphere fountain. I guess that what it would be called. Unfortunately, our racket attracted a nasty fiend that was hanging around the spring.

Most of our attacks were useless. I couldn't do much with my sword and neither could any of the other physical fighters. Lulu did most of the work, with Rikku throwing in an occasional item. Kimahri Lanceted some of the monster's health away, but it only drew its wrath towards Kimahri. He was fast though, and he got out of the way. Unfortunately for me, I was standing behind him. The attack blasted me out of the clearing and smashed down a small tree. Getting up with some difficulty, I felt the feeling I had had in Kilika and Luca. It was greater this time though. I walked back over to the fight, and as I let the power flow through me I felt the cross around my neck begin to glow. It gleamed brighter and brighter, a pure and unstained white, and it grew in size to that of an orange. The light then broke away from the charm around my neck, floating about half a foot in front of my chest. Reaching out to it, I felt it float into my hand, not connecting to it but moving along with it. Looking up at the fiend, I shouted the name of my new Overdrive and threw it towards the beast. The new attack, Para Ball (A/N: A shiny new dime to whoever knows where that attack name comes from!) struck the fiend with holy magic, piercing through its gelatinous body and striking its core. The core of the fiend exploded, and the rest sunk into the spring, emitting a few pyreflies, the rest merging with the water.

After a few congrats and questions, which I couldn't answer (I didn't know how I knew these attacks either), we moved on. Tidus and Auron lagged behind, but caught up to us before we got out of the woods. The temperature change was very obvious as we neared the frozen Macalania Lake.

Trommel bustled up to us as soon as we had arrived, attempting to make off with Yuna. "It's Guado custom," he said. Surprisingly enough, Auron agreed. "Go ahead Yuna, we're behind you," he said before turning to Tidus. "Sorry. That was your line." Tidus looked more that just a little annoyed at that comment, but ignored it and whistled to Yuna, who responded with an enthusiastic "Yessir!" Tidus didn't see me laughing at the kissy faces Rikku was making behind his back.

Not two minutes later we were fighting Al Bhed. Which was hard for Rikku and me. A freaky mohawk guy came up over the hill after the snowmobiles greeted us. I heard Rikku muttering under her breath. I looked at her, and she said just a little louder, "My brother…" So this was the good-for-nothing Brother I remembered out of nowhere earlier. Looking with pride on his catch, he saw me. His eyes widened.

"Oui!"

"Oac, sa. Fryd uv ed?"

"E'ja dumt oui pavuna du mayja Rikku ymuha! Oui'na kuhhy kad ed drec desa! Oui'na sykel ec icamacc ykyehcd drec!"

Before I could ask what he meant, a huge tank rolled over the hill and began to attack us. Wakka got the Negator down fast with his blitzball and then Lulu opened up on the tank. Kimahri leapt insanely high and drove his spear into the base of the cannon, jamming its gears and preventing it from turning. My sword wasn't going to pierce that armor, but Rikku supplied me with lightning gems and both of threw them and the machina. It fell without anyone getting too seriously injured. Rikku's brother climbed out of the wreckage.

"Rikku, oui'mm byo vun drec! E femm damm Vydran. Yht E huf ufa _oui_ dfu byopylgc!" he yelled, pointing to me on that last part, before running off without another word. The others looked at us for a translation. Rikku told them the only piece of information they needed to know.

"Ummm… That was my brother…" The others looked surprised, but Wakka was angry.

"Damn Al Bhed! Why can't they just leave us alone!?" I narrowed my eyes at him and Rikku was about to say something rude, but he continued without waiting for her.

"Look, I know you two are good people, ya? But the Al Bhed are still the reason Sin exists. They use the Forbidden Machina and until they stop Sin won't go away! It's in the Teachings, ya?"

"You're only angry with them because of Chappu, Wakka. Let it go! It isn't their fault!" Lulu said, her voice rising with an unusual amount of emotion. Wakka, along with the rest of us, was stunned. Auron broke the silence.

"Rikku, Arek. Can one of you get these running?"

"Sure thing!" we both said at the same time.

"Oh great. Don't tell me Sir Auron's Al Bhed too!"

We got the snowmobiles running very quickly. Yuna had since gone on with Trommel. Kimahri shared a vehicle with Rikku (only because no one else was small enough to fit), I rode with Auron, Tidus went with Lulu, and Wakka walked. It was a pity the fourth vehicle was broke down because it was uncomfortable riding with Auron. I was still a little annoyed (and suspicious) with him after our talk in the woods. Wakka refused to ride a Forbidden Machina, so we just let him walk. It didn't take long to get to the temple path.

After Wakka caught up, we went around the long circular path leading up to the temple. I was working hard to restrain myself for when we got to the temple entrance. I remembered last time. I didn't need to start something again. Rikku was shivering. I slid an arm out of my jacket and let her inside. She happily slipped inside and snuggled up to me. It was cute.

We got to the temple and a monk tried to stop us. "Heathens such as yourself aren't allowed in this holy place!" Auron was about to say something but I spoke up first.

"We're Guardians. We can come in if we feel like it."

"Heathens like you? Guardians? Ha! Don't make me laugh! I'll bet without your evil machina you can't even fight." Smiling at this, I stepped back away from him and let Rikku out from under my jacket. I drew my sword and threw it straight up in the air. Flipping backwards once, I shot straight up in the air, spinning and kicking the sword. My foot connected at the very point of the gunblade's handle, and it flew end over end, digging into the stone wall not three inches above the monk's head. I landed with my back to him, turning my head to tell him:

"We're Guardians. Any questions?" Rikku smirked. Auron looked displeased. Tidus was trying to stifle laughter. I pulled my gunblade out of the wall and we all went inside. The guard never said another word. By now amazing combat moves like that weren't out of the ordinary. Evidently I was well trained for whatever I was the commander of.

About ten minutes later we were in the back room of the temple facing down Seymour. Tidus charged in first.

"Seymour!"

"Be silent. Lady Yuna prays to the Fayth."

"Why don't you make me?" Seymour turned to look at him, that creepy smirk on his face.

"We know what you did, you monster. You'll pay for it," I said as I drew my sword.

"You will make me pay? Hahaha, I should think not, Lussyhtan." Just then the back door opened and Yuna stepped into the room.

It didn't take long for the fight to start. Rikku stole the guards' potion bottles and Auron followed up with strikes that cleaved them down. Seymour fought a lot harder than the guards did. His spells were strong. I charged in to strike, but to my surprise he froze my blade with an ice spell before I could get close. He then struck it with a thunder spell, obliterating the ice. And my blade. It split in half, the hilt in my hand and the blade itself clattering to the floor. I couldn't help the rest of the fight. Yuna's new Aeon made it a short battle though. Shiva destroyed Anima and even managed to strike Seymour down before he could banish it.

"Yuna… Would you pity me now…?"

Seymour's body was removed from the room and we were given no chance to explain what had happened. We began to run for the exit. As we got close the ice bridge disappeared, nearly sending Tidus plunging below. We would have to solve the cloister. Just then, I had an idea.

"Lulu! Use your magic to make a new bridge!"

"Hmm. It will take some effort, but I think I can do it." She did, and we were able to get away.

-------

We were out of danger for the moment. Underneath the frozen lake's surface. Yuna was unconscious from the fall. It was amazing all of us were alive. We were dispersed among the ruins, all of us in thought about one thing or another. I went over to Wakka, who had a pained expression on his face.

"You okay?"

"No. I ain't okay. I don't know when I will be, ya? I can't believe we killed a Maester! We're traitors!"

"Nothing new for me."

"Yeah, well…" I'd bothered him enough. I went around to see what else was going on. Rikku was sitting by herself on a piece of wall. I sat down next to her and she leaned into me. I wrapped an arm around her to try and reassure her it was okay.

"Do you think Yunie'll be okay?"

"I know she will be. She's tough."

"Do you think we'll be okay? Yevon will really want us now, seeing as we're Al Bhed and we killed a Maester."

"Don't worry. I'll protect you." I blushed a little after saying that. It sounded really stupid.

"I know."

Yuna was waking up. She explained her reasoning for going after Seymour by herself. Not smart. We discussed our next plan of action. Auron suggested defying Yevon. Rikku loved it, and I thought it would be sort of fun, but Wakka, Lulu, and Yuna weren't very keen on it. Auron would only listen to Yuna, so we decided to go to Bevelle and speak with Grand Maester Mika. Just then the Hymn stopped. We looked up and saw Sin. Soon after that everything went black.

Wow. This took a full week to finish! Hope you guys liked it. I only finished it today because I was horrendously sick and had the time. My birthday was yesterday and I was sick last night… No fun. But I'm 17 now! Go me! Okay, read the other fic I'm putting up in the FFX-2 section too. It's a sad songfic but its still good, I think. Okay, thanks for staying with me. See ya later!

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TRANSLATIONS

Oac, sa. Fryd uv ed? - Yes, me. What of it?

E'ja dumt oui pavuna du mayja Rikku ymuha! Oui'na kuhhy kad ed drec desa! Oui'na sykel ec icamacc ykyehcd drec! - I've told you before to leave Rikku alone! You're gonna get it this time! You're magic is useless against this!

Rikku, oui'mm byo vun drec! E femm damm Vydran. Yht E huf ufa oui dfu byopylgc! - Rikku, you'll pay for this! I will tell Father. And I now owe you two paybacks!

Lussyhtan - Commander


	14. Home, Sweet Home

Okay, I've got down time, so I'm gonna get started on this and work myself to the bone to get it done. Let's take some time out for all my reviewers who I love so much!

**Dragoon Swordsman –** Yeah, Brother hates Arek. That'll be explained later. And sorry about the battles, they were rushed, but there's good reason. The Seymour fight will play in later…

**Solid Shark** – And I hope I can make it thicker. My plot's gonna be thick as the layer of clothes covering the floor in my room.

**Glaciours – **I didn't know Para Ball came from FF6. Colette from Tales Of Symphonia uses it, and that's where I took it from because that game is amazing!

**icecreamlady** - Thanks a bunch for the note. It's nice to know people appreciate my faith. Some people think it's stupid and it's depressing because God isn't stupid. But I'm gonna stop now or I swear I could go on for like pages.

**Dragon and Sword Master** – You'll have to re-send you full review because I never got it. My computer's so stupid sometimes… And sorry about killing Rikku in the other fic. She's my favorite too, so its not like I have anything against her. And I'll update all I want, thank you! Lol.

**Souungo** – Keep Chibi Rikku back! School sucks and I have finals do worry about now, so I'm surprised I have any time to type at all!

**AND BIG THANKS TO MY REVIEWERS FOR MY OTHER STORIES!!! GLAD YOU LIKED THEM!!! **But no more anonymous repeating reviews! AMC kinda bothered me by doing that. No harm done, but no more because it's ignorant. You'll make people think like 10 people reviewed it when like one did. Plus people will think I just did it myself to beef my numbers **WHICH I DIDN'T!!! **Okay, I'm ready to start now!

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I woke up inside. It took several minutes to remember to events of the last few hours. After my head was squarely back on my shoulders, I stepped outside of the shelter I was in and examined my surroundings.

Desert. All I saw was sand dunes, stretching all the way to the horizon. This shelter was situated between two large dunes, so the horizon really wasn't that far away, but I was reasonably sure the desert I was in extended out for a long way. I reached for my sword, then remembered it was gone. The handle was in my pack; I had put it there after the fight with Seymour. The blade was presumably still resting in the back room of the temple where it had fallen. Defenseless for the most part, I went back into the tent to await a rescue. Hopefully the others were out there somewhere.

Stepping back inside, I took a look at the surroundings. Nothing but a cot and two chests. Opening the first, I was greeted with rows of bottled water and a few sandwiches. Blizzard magic must have been working to keep them cold, or something. Examining the other chest, I saw a simple lock, but I didn't feel like waiting for a key to turn up. Grabbing the lock a tearing it off (surprising easily as well) I discovered something wrapped loosely in purple fabric and a note on top. Written out to me. Grabbing the envelope and tearing it open, I read:

-------

Commander Arek,

I've written this in Spiran to keep any of our people who might come across it unawares of the information contained herein. Yevonites will never find this island, so it should not be a problem. I came across your body in the middle of the desert and got you to safety. I doubt you remember, but Home should be southwest of your current location. Seek me out and we shall talk. For now your mission is to continue to protect Yuna until we can find out more about the current situation. Much remains unknown, but our network will uncover it soon enough. If possible we will have someone contact you. I hope your memory returns soon. I am anxious to hear what went wrong on your last mission. The operation should have been successful, but seeing as it certainly wasn't something must have gone wrong when you went to speak to Jyscal. Also, seeing as your sword is obviously out of action, I've managed to find something for you. Not quite the same but it will have to do. Best Regards.

The Boss

-------

Pocketing the note, I removed the sword from the veil around it. I strapped it to my side, then drew it to examine my new weapon. The blade itself was two and three quarters feet long, with extra distance being added for the hilt, which was another perhaps six inches. The hilt was black and studded with metal. The single edged blade swept straight forwards until the very end, where it turned upwards slightly, ending in a wicked point. The word 'Nightmare' was carved into the blade close to the handle.

Stepping back outside, I found southwest by lining up the sun properly and then set off with a few bottles of water, the note, and my new weapon. I began to wonder how Jyscal tied in with everything. I remembered he was dead; seeing his ghost and seeing that sphere helped with that, so there was now way to just ask him. I had no idea what mission or operation took place that involved Yevon. Considering Yevon was Jyscal's affiliation, chances were the mission itself was a covert one. The only way to be sure what was happening was to get to Home, find the leader, and ask who exactly "The Boss" was.

I still hadn't found the others. I really hoped they were okay. Especially Rikku. I knew she'd find her way back to Home though, and if she could find everyone else then we'd all meet up soon. I was worried for the others. They weren't used to the desert heat. If there was any doubt in my mind about being Al Bhed, it would have been gone now. I felt completely at home in the desert. Even with my jacket on I felt fine. Over the next two hours all I saw was sand dunes. Eventually, I saw smoke on the horizon. Concerned, I ran to the top of the next dune. What I saw made me scream out loud.

Home was under attack. Seeing it for the first time since my memory loss, I remembered a few things from my past. I remembered Home. I remembered playing in the desert around it as a little boy. I remembered children my age that I played with, even though I couldn't put names and faces together. I knew this was my home. And it was burning, in ruins, laid to waste by Yevon. I drew my blade and ran the whole way down the slope.

Upon arriving at the plaza outside the entrance, three Guado greeted me. My rage was overpowering; I jumped, my blade flashing bright white, and upon driving it into the ground the Energy Wave exploded outward and obliterated all three. The main door was wedged open by wreckage. As I walked inside, I felt the cross glowing. Holding Nightmare with just my left hand, I held out my right and let the magic float into it. A Guado jumped at me.

BOOM.

Tiny flecks of white lightning cracked around my hand and a new ball formed. A Bomb floated to greet me.

BOOM.

A Chimera roared from around the corner.

BOOM.

Two more Bombs flew in from a side room.

BOOM… BOOM. The first Bomb exploding had taken down the second one, sparing me the trouble.

I was now to a large circular room. Several Guado bodies already littered the floor, but three were standing around still. My energy attacks depleted, I charged in with Nightmare. I ducked the claws of the first Guado and spun, cutting his legs out from under him. I spun the rest of the way and sliced his chest open. He crumpled and I vaulted over him, placing a flying side kick into the next one. The third Guado was charging a spell. I threw the blade at him, following its flight. Nightmare split his head in two and stuck into the wall. I pulled it out and went back for the other Guado, who had just gotten up and was looking to run. Fortunately, he was going the same way I needed to go, so I followed him. I caught up fast, plunging the blade into his back, then twisting and yanking it back out. I ran on deeper into the facility.

All I thought about was that this was my home. These filth were destroying it. I knew The Boss must have trained me well; his training was a good investment. I descended a flight of stairs and ran into everyone. Two Chimeras were about to jump them from behind. I ran down the stairs, jumping and planting my foot on the rail about halfway down, and vaulting forward. My forward flight put enough power behind my swing to split the first Chimera in half. I flew past the perpendicular gangway and over the edge, reaching back at the last second to grab the ledge. Pulling myself up, I flipped and landed on my feet, then destroyed the remaining beast with a few quick swings. I spit in disgust on its fading form, then turned back to the others, all who were staring at me in shock.

"What? They were going to kill you." Rikku slipped through the group and tackle hugged me, nearly making me drop my sword in surprise, but I recovered fast and returned her embrace as best as I could.

"We were… we were…"

"We were afraid you were in here when this mess started, ya?" Wakka finished for her. "We expected the worst."

"Where's Yuna?"

"Well… we was kind of hoping you'd know, ya?" Rikku spoke up to answer Wakka. "She'll be in the…"

"Summoner's Sanctum," I finished for her. "It's in the second deepest area of the facility."

"First off, how did you know that, and second off it's the deepest part, not the second deepest, and thirdly…"

"Rikku, we'll talk later, we need to go now!"

We took off deeper into Home's underground and finally found the room Yuna would be in. We burst in only to find Dona and Issaru preparing to Send the dead Al Bhed. Looking around, I saw the bodies of dozens of Al Bhed strewn around the room.

"They died protecting us. The least we can do is give them a proper sending," Issaru explained. The youngest of his guardians, Pacce, ran up to Tidus.

"What does 'sacrificed' mean? The Al Bhed said that Summoners are being sacrificed."

We all knew it was time. There was no way to go on without telling Tidus. Rikku was the one who had to do it.

"Summoners journey to get the Final Aeon. But even if she gets it, she'll die, you know? If Yunie summons the Final Aeon, it'll kill her too!" She fell, but a caught her, and she sobbed into my side. Turning to Dona, who was standing some distance away, I asked where everyone else was.

"They've gone on ahead. There's a way out, evidently. The CyhtCduns covered the escape of Cid, us, and the other leaders, and they're holding the Guado back as we speak. Once we're done sending we're all to fall back."

"CyhtCduns?"

"Yes. It translates to SandStorm. It's the elite division of the Al Bhed Secret Service. They're highly trained fighters that defend Home and the Al Bhed interests."

Just then three members of CyhtCduns came running out of the previous room. One planted a charge at the base of the door, and blew it down as soon as the others were clear. Another man, #7 according to the uniform he wore, stepped up to me and saluted.

"Lussyhtan, cen. Ed'c tysh kuut du ryja oui pylg! Mulg yht muyt, cen," he said before tossing me a nice looking firearm. Twin clips loaded into the underside of the rifle and it appeared to be automatic and very powerful. A-56-C was labeled on the side, evidently the weapon's construction model. I turned to the others.

"I'm going to help my men hold off the Guado. We'll buy you some time to get out. We won't be long." Just then the rubble around the door began to shake. "Go! They're breaking through!" The others took off, Rikku being dragged by Auron, and Wakka asking Lulu "What did he mean by 'his men', ya?"

The rubble exploded outwards, most likely from a Bomb attack, and Guado began to pour through the opening. Having no choice, all four of us opened fire. The guns tore the Guado to pieces; most of them never made it three steps. Even so, so many were coming through that we weren't holding up. We fell back fast, running along the gangway, firing off bursts whenever possible, and diving through the door to the airship just before it took off. Standing up and adjusting my clothes, I asked #7, "How many did we lose?" He looked uncomfortable at this. "Soldier…?" I pressed him.

"Sir, all members of SandStorm who weren't on assignment were killed in action. And… no one was on assignment last time I checked. We're all that's left, sir." I looked and the three men left out of my combat unit. #7, #19, and #24 were it. I shook my head in dismay.

"Very well. Once you three have recovered, guard The Boss and Cid. Report directly to The Boss for further orders." They all saluted and left to find the med bay, or whatever there was on the airship to make up for one. More likely than not there was just someone who had minor healing powers on board and they would take the place of a real nurse. I immediately went in search of The Boss.

Being back in Home brought several things back to my memory. I knew where the Summoner's Sanctum was because the way to the CyhtCduns training facility went through the Sanctum. Few people knew about The Center, where we were trained. CyhtCduns was kept in strictest confidence. Only the highest ups knew it existed. Evidently even Rikku didn't know about it, seeing as she didn't know The Center was truly the deepest part of Home. I remembered bits and pieces of my training as well. Not enough to truly pinpoint any details about my past, but enough to make me feel satisfied for now. As I was walking towards the bridge, Rikku came tearing by with tears in her eyes. Putting other business on hold, I took off after her.

She hadn't gone far. I caught up to her on the observation level. She was leaning up against one of the windows, suppressing sobs and trying to look like nothing was wrong. I walked up without invitation and pulled her into a hug. We sat there for a few minutes while she calmed back down some.

"Everything's gone… We worked so hard to build our lives back. Dad put everything into re-uniting us. Everything's gone…"

"Hey, we're still alive. We lost a lot today, but we didn't lose everything. We can re-build, and we'll recover just like we have in the past!" She smiled at this and kissed me.

"You're the only one who really knows what to say. So explain what exactly has been going on."

I told her everything I knew up to that point, from waking in the desert to my re-discovery that I was the leader of CyhtCduns. She listened to everything, not saying a word. When I finished, she still had nothing to say. It must have been a surprise for her, but I didn't blame her reaction. Had the conditions been any less dire I would have reacted the same way.

We talked for a little while and then I excused myself as Wakka came up. Judging by her look, he had something to apologize for. I headed back down towards the bridge, this time planning on finding The Boss.

Now, remember how I said I recalled some things from my training? Being the commander of CyhtCduns meant I answered to only one person: The Boss himself. During my time in Home, his face floated back into my memory. Therefore I had no trouble finding the man on board the airship. Walking up to him, I snapped to attention and saluted. He gave a small smile and an "at ease" before stepping forward to shake my hand.

"Good to have you back in action, Arek," Rin said. "I was quite worried about my right-hand man."

-------------------------------

Not as long as normal, but still pretty good. I was gonna wait on giving out this plot point, but I've got plenty more goodies up my sleeve and I like letting my stories flow. Arek was smart enough to figure it out before I wanted him to, so I'll just have to work around what he does.Review for me because I worked my BUTT off to get this chapter out so fast. And with finals breathing down my neck too! Love you all! See ya's!

TRANSLATIONS

Lussyhtan, cen. Ed'c tysh kuut du ryja oui pylg! Mulg yht muyt, cen - Commander, sir. It's damn good to have you back! Lock and load, sir


	15. Wedding Crashers

Holy crap I've neglected doing anything with this for over a month! School's just gotten so tough now that I have no time or energy. Sorry. I'll see what I can do now though. I'm gonna see how many days this takes to get finished. Thanks to my awesome reviewers again!

**Dragon and Sword Master** – Yeah I had good reasons to make Rikku kill herself. I don't see how she can be so perfectly happy all the time. I think she's hiding something.

**Solid Shark** – I'm starting to run out of twists lol. But we'll just see how things play out…

**Dragoon Swordsman** – Yeah I had that in store since, like forever. I forget exactly when I came up with that lol.

**Souungo** – Rin isn't evil. He's the head of the Al Bhed Secret Service. The whole organization is just kept quiet since the Al Bhed are kinda hunted by Yevon. If Rin was brought down it would seriously damage the Al Bhed nation. This is all AU though since the organization doesn't actually exist in the game. And sorry for taking forever to update.

**Glaciours** – Kinda lost me by the end lol, but it's all good. I'll try to get something cute in this chapter, but I've gotta see how it pans out.

* * *

"How is my sword holding up for you?" Rin asked. 

"This was yours?"

"A long time ago, yes. I no longer need it though, so it's yours to keep. From the stories of some of the Al Bhed survivors, I heard many a Guado fell to your blade today."

"They destroyed our home, sir. No warning, no reason. I've got no problems with defending myself and my people."

"Which is why you rose through the ranks so fast."

"Can't say I remember that yet."

"Do you remember your previous mission?"

"No sir, I don't."

"This could present some problems. I'll fill you in on what I know and we'll see how your memory fairs from there. You were to meet with Lord Jyscal of the Guado concerning a matter of utmost importance. The matter in question didn't turn out as planned and you went missing for several weeks before I saw you on the Highroad."

"And the matter in question was…?"

"The matter in question was…" But Rin never got the chance to explain, as right then a Bomb rocketed around the corner and right towards him. I dove in front of him, bringing my foot around and connecting with the fiend, knocking it into a wall. I drew Nightmare and impaled it, causing it to deflate and dissolve. Rin looked no worse for the wear. "Perhaps we should report this to the captain."

"We went into the bridge area, where everyone was gathered. Rin told everyone what was going on, but didn't get much farther. A shrill yell from the pilot caught everyone off guard.

"OOOUUUIIII!!!!" he screamed, pointing at me and storming over. Had Cid been unable to take over piloting, we would have crashed.

"Yht oui yna...?" I asked him in our native tongue.

"Brother! Oui ghuf sa, puo!"

"Ur oayr, dra bihg ficc fa tacdnuoat pylg yd Macalania. Oui cruimt ryja ghufh paddan dryh du sacc fedr ic. Fru yddylgc draen ufh cecdan? E ruba E mavd y clyn."

"CRID IB!!! Oui'na milgo oui teth'd mayja y syng mycd desa fa vuikrd un E't ryja buihtat oui!!"

"Dra fyo dra lyhhuh pmaf ib E's cinbnecat oui teth'd kad y syng."

"Dryd'c hud dra 'mycd desa' E fyc dymgehk ypuid..." he muttered under his breath, but just loud enough for me to hear.

"Fryd dra…"

BOOM. We all flew sideways from an impact to the side of the ship. Leaving Brother for later, I bolted from the bridge and went for the observation level, everyone else following me. No more fiends greeted us, but the monster floating outside the airship was more intimidating than any fiend. It was easily fifty feet long, but it was probably longer than that. Its ribbon-like body made sizing it up difficult. It had massive wings that looked like a huge bow tie on its back, and claws on its four limbs half as long as my arm. Its head just seemed to extend from its neck, which was covered in spikes up the back. I couldn't tell from here, but I was willing to bet it had some nasty teeth as well.

"Evrae, the Guardian Wyrm." Lulu informed us. Auron chuckled.

"The red carpet has teeth."

"So… what do we do?" Rikku asked.

"We're gonna fight that thing! Yuna's down there!" Tidus said, his eyes blazing with resolve. We prepared ourselves and went out on deck.

Rikku was able to communicate with Cid best, so she stayed back. With Yuna gone and a large supply of Al Bhed potions at her disposal, Rikku had become the party's healer since the others woke up and found each other in the desert. Tidus could have helped with commands but he chose to fight instead. He told me later if he fought too it meant we'd get to Yuna faster.

Evrae was far away when the fight began. Lulu was the only one capable of doing any damage. This was solved when the monster flew in close to greet us. It rocketed ahead of us then spun back in close, raking out with its claws and hitting Lulu and Auron. Rikku yelled at Cid to dive in close, then ran to heal them. Wakka struck it with his ball, but it did little damage. Rikku tossed me a sack of fire gems while she was working on Lulu and Auron. Opening the bag, I saw at least 20 gems inside. I very quickly came up with a plan and called the four remaining fighter over to me.

"We can't keep fighting it like this. We need a new strategy. Here," I said, shoving a small handful of fire gems to each of them. "We're gonna pin it down with suppressive fire. The next time it flies by, I'll nail it with one. Tidus, you throw the next. Then Wakka, then Kimahri. There should be enough here to end the fight!"

We broke and I stepped forward. As soon as Evrae took another dive at us, I rolled to avoid the claw and threw my fire gem. It struck Evrae right in the side and rocked it with five consecutive Fira spells. Right as the fourth one hit I yelled to Tidus, who followed suit. Wakka threw next, followed by Kimahri. When we ran out of gems, Evrae flew back, badly burned. Its once beautiful scales were charred brown and black. Part of its face was burned off, exposing bleached bone. Yet it still stood. Or floated, rather. Auron, now healed and ready to fight, attacked with Dragon Fang. This proved too much for the beast, and it writhed in agony as its body dissolved around it. Cid yelled over the intercom right about then.

"We're gettin' close to the city! Git your sorry hides back in here!" We flew back for the lift and headed back down. As we passed by Rin, he pulled me aside and slipped me something – an 8-inch combat knife. "It straps to your arm," he explained. "Use it if the going gets tough, Commander. Be careful, Yevon breaks their own rules."

"What do you…?"

"Let's GO, Arek! Cid's got a way for us to get to the ground!"

"Hoo boy, not sure if I'm gonna like this…"

* * *

Cid's plan got us to the ground fast enough. He fired cables from the airship to a path high up the temple and we had to surf down them. I was very impressed at how easily everyone made it down. We had quite a distance to slide down and they weren't that big around, not to mention they kept crossing over each other and some of us had to switch cables way up in the air. Perhaps Lulu cast some sort of magic on us to help, I don't know. We more or less hit the ground running. Auron, Tidus and I took front while Rikku, Lulu and Wakka took up support. Kimahri did whatever Kimahri felt like doing. A Yevonite armed with a rifle charged us. Nightmare flashed, and his head went rolling. Another two came in close, trying to use their bayonets. I blocked one and kicked him in the chest. Auron ran the other man through and Wakka's blitzball bounced off the man's chest I kicked, sending over the edge of the walkway we were on. He plummeted several hundred feet to the streets of Bevelle below. Lulu flung lightning spells at the machina assaulting us. Three flamethrower troops advanced on us but Kimahri hit his overdrive and cooked them with his flame breath. Tidus picked up a dropped rifle and shot another guard with it. Slowly but surely, we made our way up the path to the altar. Yuna was waiting for us. 

As we neared our destination, it became clear that there were just too many troops. We had to surrender. Seymour laughed as we approached the altar under heavy guard.

"And you fools thought you could beat me? Pity. Arek, I thought you were smarter than that."

"Watch it Seymour. In case your rotting brain forgot, we already beat you."

"Oh come now, I see nothing wrong with being dead. You'll find it makes you so much stronger! Hahahaha." At this point Yuna tried to send Seymour, but it failed miserably. She ended up having to jump off the temple, but we knew everything was fine when we saw Valefor sail downward to intercept her. Rikku threw one of her flashbombs and we escaped into the temple.

_Be careful, Yevon breaks their own rules._ Only now did Rin's words really sink in. The temple was full of machina that were complex enough to rival some work of the Al Bhed! We wordlessly worked our way deeper in, and eventually found ourselves outside the fayth's door. Tidus, with some difficulty and some help from Kimahri, pried the door open and went inside. Not a minute later the guards came.

* * *

And so I found myself dangling in a cell with Auron and Tidus, wondering what exactly had happened to Rikku. She looked about ready to cry when they tied her up and took her away. They tried to tie me, but one guard lost a hand. I agreed to go peacefully and they left it at that. Evidently a few Yevonites have brains. Short story short, we were convicted to the Via Purifico. In other words, death. This time even I couldn't bring Nightmare to bear fast enough to stop the blow to the back of my head.

* * *

I awoke in a dank disgusting dungeon and the first thing I saw was a fiend. Nightmare lay a full ten feet from me, but thanks to Rin's knife, which was still safely strapped to my right forearm, the lizard-like monster never stood a chance. _I wonder if I'll turn into a fiend if I never make it out of here_, I thought to myself. _I guess Yevon keeps throwing 'heretics' in here to keep the fiend population high for more heretics._

I kept the knife in my off-hand and drew Nightmare with my left. Better safe than sorry. To my surprise, Lulu was inside too and very close. She was fighting another lizard and seemed to be having a hard time of it. Her look was too funny when the fiend bucked sideways with a flying knife buried in its head. Maybe it was just relieve stress, but I busted up laughing.

"I hardly get the joke," she said. "We're in deep trouble if we can't find a way out of here."

"I know, it's just… Your face was hilarious!"

"…"

"… Sorry. I'm just a bit stressed," I said solemnly. "And Rikku…"

"We'll find her. We'll find everyone. Don't worry."

* * *

Lulu was right about finding people. Within the next hour we were reunited with Auron, Kimahri, and Yuna. Within the next two hours we were free. Yuna obliterated Issaru in a one-on-one Aeon fight. We escaped outside to find ourselves in the middle of Bevelle, coming out of a sewer grate. The downside was we were a good half mile from the Highbridge and we were wanted criminals. We ran as fast as we could, and eventually got there, but not without grievously wounding no less than a dozen Yevon soldiers. We found the three missing members of our party already on the bridge. Rikku and I wordlessly embraced. I could feel her crying just a little, but she held together pretty good. Our reunion was cut short though, because Seymour showed up, dead Kinoc in hand. Auron looked very angry at this. 

"Don't worry, my dear Sir Auron. I've simply released him from his pain. The sweet slumber of death takes away all pain."

"Go. Run. All of you." I said, surprising even myself just a bit. "I'll deal with him." A chorus of "no's" followed.

"I SAID GO!!! Protect your summoner!" I yelled, never taking my eyes off Seymour. Wordlessly, they all left down the Highbridge, some having to be dragged away by others. Seymour stood there smiling the whole time.

"So you'll deal with me, will you boy?" he said smiling that evil smile.

"Damn right I will."

"Hahahaha. Okay then, but you'll lose."

"Like I did last time, right?" I smirked sarcastically at him. He simply laughed, a long putrid laugh, like something was so bitterly funny.

"Yes. EXACTLY like last time!" And he threw himself at me…

Only to be rocked back by a massive bolt of lightning. The others lined up, ready to fight. "I'll never leave a friend to die," Yuna said quietly. Seymour must have heard this, for he simply laughed.

"You're too late, my lady! THEIR LIVES ARE MINE!!!" At that he began to change.

A giant plate grew out of his head and formed behind him, reminiscent of his hair. His outfit grew more sweeping and his skin turned a stony blue. A man-sized monstrous looking demon materialized next to him as well. Seymour laughed again and cast a Watera spell that knocked _all_ of us to our knees. Yuna was the first up and she summoned Shiva, but Seymour was too fast for her. Black magic encircled his outstretched hand and he snapped his fingers. Just like that, Shiva was gone.

We immediately re-formed our strategy. Seymour could hit all of those who were in front of him, so we surrounded him. I slashed at his back and he turned, but before he could attack Wakka hit him from the side. He turned and Auron used the opportunity to bury his massive sword in Seymour's back. Seymour's monstrosity healed him from this and we realized we had to change plans again.

We all pounded on Seymour's little friend. Well, everyone but me. I got to attack head on. I swung at his body, but was surprised when he blocked me with a metal armguard.

"Desert scum," he mocked, sending me into a rage. I brought Nightmare high and to the left, but when he blocked I spun reverse and went for his legs, coming full circle. He floated up a little and sent a fireball at me, which I backflipped away from. I landed in a crouch and flew right for him. Little did he know my knife was dropping into my hand mid flight.

He blocked my sword swing but stood no chance against the unseen knife. I smirked with pleasure at his scream as I drove the blade into his chest. He pulled back expecting Mortibody to heal him, but the creature was severely weakened from everyone else's attacks, and instead sucked the last of Seymour's life from him. I looked him right in the eyes as he stared at me in disbelief.

"So I lost just like last time, didn't I?" I said mockingly. He stared for a second, then laughed again.

"Fool…" He fell back, but before Yuna could send him –

"They're over here!" Guards. We all ran, battered and bloody, but alive.

* * *

Macalania Woods was a welcome sight. We didn't get too far before collapsing. We found a campsite and crashed there. This area of the woods had few fiends, being reasonably close to Bevelle, so we were safe. It was after sunset, so we hoped the guards would not bother leaving the city. They never left Bevelle at night, as far as anyone knew. No one bothered to move for about an hour. Even Auron looked exhausted. Eventually Yuna stood up and said she was going for a walk. Kimahri followed her. Rikku said she felt like doing the same and left a minute or so later. After a little while Tidus came over to me. 

"She was a little worried about you today when we were separated." Pulling an Auron, I just stared at him, knowing he'd continue. "Well, a little worried is an understatement. She made us promise not to speak of this, but she cried real bad when she found Wakka and I underwater in the Purifico. I had to hold her up or she would have drowned."

"I know. I know she was worried. I hope she's okay now."

"You need to find out. She wants to see you, I'm sure." I stared at Tidus, taken off guard by the seriousness and, to some degree, wisdom of the man before me. I nodded and got up, Tidus following suit. "Where are you going?" I asked.

"To find Yuna. Where else would I go when she needs me most?" he stated. We parted ways just outside the campsite, Tidus going straight and me turning right and heading farther into the woods. A little ways ahead I found a small trail to the right side of the path. Acting on intuition, I took it, treading deep into the woods. After about five minutes of walking, I came to the most beautiful sight imaginable.

The sparking trees pealed back to reveal a somewhat circular clearing barely one hundred feet across. The grass took on the same shine as the trees around it. The cloudless sky sparkled with more stars then you could count in ten lifetimes. A great full moon cast its light on the girl in the middle of the field. Her hair was taken down from its bun, and a breeze gently stirred its golden lengths. The grass waved as well, sparkling all the more. She was facing away from me, her legs drawn up with her slender arms wrapped around them. She was staring up at the stars.

My breath caught in my throat. She was the most beautiful person I had ever seen. I silently walked up behind her, then kneeled down and pulled her into an embrace from behind. She tensed for a second, then relaxed. We stayed like that for a few minutes, neither of us saying anything. I felt her body shaking some and realized she was trying to suppress sobs. I leaned over and looked, and caught the sight of tears on her cheek.

"Rikku, are you…"

But before I could finish my question, she spun on me and knocked me backwards into the grass, landing on top of me. She put her arms around my neck and cried into my shoulder. I just held her close and let her get it out, rubbing small circles on her back to comfort her. She tried to speak after a few minutes.

"Today… I thought… I lost you… I've never been more scared… I… I…"

"Rikku…"

"No! I need to say this. If I lost you I don't know what I'd do…"

I rolled her over and looked down at her. Smiling, I brought my lips down to hers in a kiss we both needed more than anything. Pulling away, I said those magic words that she needed to hear. Magic words that I felt and meant with all my heart.

"Rikku, E muja oui. I love you. With all my heart. No matter what happens, you'll never lose me. I'll always be right here for you." This time it was her who pulled me into the kiss.

* * *

Well that only took about a week lol. But at least it's finished. Next chapter's gonna be a bit of an interlude. I want to try to find a good song I can write it to. It'll be mindless fluffy nonsense which I love writing for some reason. I know the holiday season is over, but check out my Christmas In Luca fic if you've got the time. It was a blast to write and I'd like to see what you all think of it. Hope the chapter meets expectations. AND THANKS TO GLACIOURS FOR THE SUPER IDEAS REGARDING BROTHER!!! All fights/quarrels/etc. between Arek and Brother are ideas from Glaciours. Mad props to you! A'ight, I'm done. Thanks to everyone whose been reviewing. Over 60 reviews. I'm seriously thrilled. See y'all soon I hope! 

TRANSLATIONS

OOOUUUIIII!!!! – YYYOOOUUUU!!!!

Yht oui yna...? – And you are…?

Brother! Oui ghuf sa, puo! – Brother! You know me, boy!

Ur oayr, dra bihg ficc fa tacdnuoat pylg yd Macalania. Oui cruimt ryja ghufh paddan dryh du sacc fedr ic. Fru yddylgc draen ufh cecdan? E ruba E mavd y clyn. - Oh yeah, the punk wuss we destroyed back at Macalania. You should have known better than to mess with us. Who attacks their own sister? I hope I left a scar.

CRID IB!!! Oui'na milgo oui teth'd mayja y syng mycd desa fa vuikrd un E't ryja buihtat oui!! – SHUT UP!!! You're lucky you didn't leave a mark last time we fought or I'd have pounded you!!

Dra fyo dra lyhhuh pmaf ib E's cinbnecat oui teth'd kad y syng. - The way the cannon blew up I'm surprised you didn't get a mark.

Dryd'c hud dra 'mycd desa' E fyc dymgehk ypuid... - That's not the 'last time' I was talking about...

Fryd dra… - What the…


	16. Interlude: Imagine Me Without You

I came up with the idea for this chapter just before writing the last one and I've been soooo excited about this! I love writing romance/fluffy stuff and I saw this as the best opportunity ever. The song is Imagine Me Without You by Jaci Velasquez. I don't own the song. Duh. Wish I did though, cuz now it's like my favorite love song (not that I know too many mind you). I'm gonna give some shout outs and then we'll get on with the show.

**Dragon and Sword Master** – Your Enigma of the Dark Warrior chapter was good. But I wouldn't translate the names. Rikku would stay Rikku and Tidus would stay Tidus. I think Paine comes off as overly harsh, but you've got creative license, so I say run with it!

**Solid Shark** – Yeah I haven't run out of plot twists just yet! Brother will be explained in like 2 or 3ish chapters. It just depends on how fast I move.

**Dragoon Swordsman** – I have nothing to say for or against that idea lol. You'll see the connection soon enough.

**Glaciours** – Indeed I was just building up. If this chapter comes off the way I want it to it'll rot your teeth from sweetness lol.

**Anbu713** – Thanks a bunch Anbu! I love getting new fans! I've still got a few tricks in my lovely little "plot twist bag" too lol.

* * *

The night was so beautiful. Just like the girl who lay in my arms. We never left the clearing after I found her. Rikku pulled out a blanket she had brought along and we cuddled up to each other underneath it. I wrapped her in my arms and she rested her head on my chest. We didn't talk; we just relaxed and enjoyed each other. I never understood until then just how much the little Al Bhed meant to me. 

_As long as stars shine down from Heaven  
__And the rivers run into the sea  
__'Til the end of time, forever  
__You're the only love I'll need_

I smiled at how cute she looked, like a little angel. Her eyes were drooping a bit from fatigue, but it made her look even sweeter. She yawned and I chuckled a bit, pulling her closer and planting a kiss on top of her head. She tilted back to look at me better and smiled happily.

_In my life You're all that matters  
__In my eyes the only truth I see  
__When my hopes and dreams have shattered  
__You're the one that's there for me_

I remember back in Kilika when I thought I had lost her. In my head, she was only a friend then. How wrong I was. I loved her then, but my heart didn't feel like sharing it with my mind. I love her so much still. I loved her more every day as we got to know each other better over this pilgrimage. I wonder if Tidus is having his happy moment with Yuna right now. I'll have to talk with him about it later.

_When I found You I was blessed  
__And I will never leave You  
__I need You_

Rikku looked almost asleep. So being my terrible self, I reached down and poked her in the side. She jumped and squealed, and I laughed at her as she mock pouted. After a few seconds she couldn't hold the look, and her face dissolved into a cheerful smile as she placed a kiss on my lips.

_Imagine me without You  
__I'd be lost and so confused  
__I wouldn't last a day  
__I'd be afraid without You there to see me through  
__Imagine me without You  
__Lord, You know it's just impossible  
__Because of You  
__It's all brand new  
__My life is now worth while  
__I can't imagine me without You_

We were alone, but we had already decided not to take things over the edge. She said she wasn't ready, and to be quite honest neither was I. We had our whole lives ahead of us, and we didn't want to go too far now. I wanted her by my side forever, and that's what was important. I stroked her arm gently with my thumb and she cuddled closer, burying her face in my neck. Life couldn't get any better than this moment.

_When You caught me I was falling  
__Your love lifted me back on my feet  
__It was like You heard my calling  
__And You rushed to set me free_

She nuzzled my neck again and kissed me. I leaned my head against hers in total contentment. I realized just how much I owed the little Al Bhed. She was the one who got close to me when no one else would. When I was simply the 'Black Knight,' a warrior no one knew of who just happened to do something right, a kid with no past, she reached out to me. She befriended me, accepted me, loved me. No one I know could ever be more special than the girl curled up in my arms.

_When I found You I was blessed  
__And I will never leave You  
__I need You_

"Arek?"

"Yeah Rikku?"

"You know I love you, right?"

"Nope. I had no idea."

"Hey! Oui zang!" she said playfully, hitting me lightly on the chest. We both laughed and resumed our cuddle session. After a few more minutes of silence I couldn't help myself and started tickling her ribs. She giggled and shrieked with laughter and tried to get away but it was no use. My assault continued until I couldn't control myself, and I fell back laughing as hard as Rikku was.

"Of course I know you love me, goof," I told her. "I love you too. Forever, remember?"

_Imagine me without You  
__I'd be lost and so confused  
__I wouldn't last a day  
__I'd be afraid without You there to see me through  
__Imagine me without You  
__Lord, You know it's just impossible  
__Because of You  
__It's all brand new  
__My life is now worth while  
__I can't imagine me without You_

"Arek, what're we gonna do about Yunie? We've got to save her!" she propped herself up on one elbow and awaited my response.

"I know. We'll think of something. Yuna's my friend too. I don't want to see her die any more than you do." She smiled and slid in close to me.

"I won't worry then. I trust you."

_When I found You I was blessed  
__And I will never leave You  
__I need You_

Rikku was starting to fall asleep again, but I didn't poke her this time. She looked so sweet when she slept. I gently kissed the top her head and she sighed happily and snuggled up to me. Her breathing slowed and she was asleep in minutes, safe in my embrace. Nothing could make me happier than the girl I was holding.

_Imagine me without You  
__I'd be lost and so confused  
__I wouldn't last a day  
__Without You there to see me through  
__Imagine me without You  
__Lord, You know it's just impossible  
__Because of You  
__It's all brand new  
__My life is now worth while  
__I can't imagine me_

I was very late by now. I looked up at the stars from my vantage point in the field that would grace my happiest dreams forever. So many tiny lanterns lit the sky, not a cloud blocking them. The moon glowed brilliantly. The grass made a soft and comfy bed, and the girl of my dreams was with me. As sleep began to take me, I saw a shooting star streak across the heavens.

"Let there always be times like this for Rikku and I. Let us stop Sin forever so there can be times like this for everyone," I quietly wished. My last thoughts before peaceful slumber were of this moment, this field, and Rikku in my arms. Not even the Farplane itself could be this perfect.

_I can't imagine me without You  
__

* * *

_

Not too bad, eh? I liked it. Writing romance is tough! Lol, I hope you guys enjoyed it. It's short, but it's kinda meant to be. It's more like an interlude before the last part of the story. After maybe another chapter or two plot twists are gonna fly out of hiding and pummel you. I need to do some planning for thenext chapter and I might write another songfic on the side, so I don't know when chapter 17 will be done, but I'll try to make it soon. Later everyone!


	17. The Trials of Gagazet

WOW I'M SOOOO SORRY I'VE BEEN AWAY SO LONG! Soooo much has been going on and I've had zero time. Please forgive me. I've been working on stuff for my missions trip to Peru, I've been horribly sick, and I've been destroyed from the school work. My grades are slipping a bit and I've been trying to do some damage control. Anyways, on to the reviews, which are my only reasons for continuing mind you. You guys rock!

**Glaciours** – Yeah I'm not ready to write lemon lol. And there should be more action this chapter. I've had writer's block real bad, but I think I can get at least two or three good fights crammed in.

**Solid Shark** – Thanks!

**Dragoon Swordsman** – Haha, thanks. That took a lot of work! I had to research other fics and study their techniques. Finding the right words to get the emotional response I wanted was really difficult.

**GundamWingFanatic90** – Well, it's been around a month for me now too lol. Probably longer. Glad you like this. I'm not giving away my ending though lol. You'll just have to keep reading, but I guarantee I'll keep it interesting!

**Anbu713** - picks up sword my plot twist will shatter your shield! Haha. Rikku's my favorite too, so I tried to get her a nice guy lol. I've got like 3 or 4 songfic ideas too, but I need to further develop them before I start typing.

**Stelmaria** – Why can't real life be like that? Sigh And Cid does know about Rin. He'd be Rin's boss. I'll divulge the other stuff like Brother and Seymour's parts later. You'll just have to stay with me! And I hope the wait didn't drive you insane lol.

**Clutsyangel27** – Doing my best to keep going. Thanks for the kind words! And is your name in relation to Colette from Tales Of Symphonia by any chance? Colette definitely fits the description "clutsy angel." I love that game too…

**BlackWindKaze** – Thanks for the review bud. You stumbled across my secret gem lol, cuz **_I DO PLAN TO DO A SEQUEL! EVERYONE TAKE NOTE! I'M PLANNING A SEQUEL!_** Lol, thanks for reading and I'm glad you like it.

Also thanks to those who reviewed for my other stories. I LOVE YOU GUYS!

On to the good stuff!

* * *

I was jolted from my peaceful sleep by a boot. A BIG boot. A big, SMELLY boot. Rolling over groggily and detaching myself from my girl, I cracked an eye half open to see none other than Auron standing over us.

"Get up."

"Hnnnnnh…"

"Get up. Its late morning already. We've been looking for you two for an hour now."

That got me motivated a little bit. I stumbled up (thankfully with clothes on) and tried a very uncoordinated stretch before stumbling sideways, toppling over a sleeping princess, and landing flat on my face. Rikku sat up, looked around, and promptly fell back asleep. Auron, in a very un-Auronlike manner, was laughing uncontrollably. I stared at him in total shock while he composed himself. While he was wiping a small tear of laughter away, I picked up Rikku, still asleep and wrapped in a blanket, and we set off to find the others.

"Was my pain really that amusing to you, Auron?"

"Yes, very much so."

"Do me a favor."

"…"

"Never speak of this morning."

"I'll say as much as you do."

* * *

The Calm Lands were big. There was no other way to describe them. It hadn't taken us long to get there, and the late morning sun lit up the green fields beautifully. Rikku started rolling around in the cool grass, laughing and being… herself, I guess. Against my dignity and better judgment, I joined in. Surprisingly, Tidus and Yuna did as well, and we were soon acting like a bunch of goofy kids while the 'adults' watched with a mix of annoyance and amusement. After our little fit we set off for the travel agency in the center of the Calm Lands.

The walk took about an hour but it was very entertaining. The fiends were not overly challenging, but just right to keep us on our toes. We arrived and an elderly man named Father Zuke made us aware we were all traitors to Yevon. Good thing I never cared about it in the first place. We would have stayed the day in the Calm Lands, but Auron decided we needed to keep moving.

"It will do us good to place distance between us and Bevelle."

We reached the northern edge of the Calm Lands just as the sun was beginning to near the horizon. We had at most an hour before darkness, and we hoped to reach the Ronso village for the night. We entered the canyon leading on towards Gagazet and were stopped by, of things, Guado.

"Maester Seymour wishes to speak with you!"

"We have nothing to discuss with Maester Seymour!" Yuna returned.

"You may want to back off," I said dangerously while unsheathing Nightmare.

"As you wish, but I warn you the Maester doesn't need you alive…" And with that a monstrous machina marched out of the canyon below us. It was at least 20 feet tall and had lumbering arms that reached to about its knee joints. It must have weighed a few tons at the very least. Yevon symbology was branded on it in several places.

The Guado cowards ran, but that was probably for the best; this machina would give us a handful by itself it seemed. Auron went for an Armor Break, but the robot swung its arms sideways and knocked him away. He crashed full speed into the rock wall, leaving cracks and nearly knocking him out. Kimahri used the opportunity to ram his spear into an arm joint, but it did no good and he had to retreat or receive the same treatment as Auron. Lulu blasted it with a Thundara spell, and it was stunned just long enough for Rikku to jump on the thing's back. Wait… She jumped on its back!

Rikku looked like the star of a Chocobo rodeo. The machina bucked and thrashed, but she wouldn't let go. After what seemed like eternity she scurried up, vaulted off the head and made a perfect landing right near us.

"Shoot! Nothing to break and nothing to steal!" However, during Rikku's suicide mission, Yuna had treated Auron and he had buried and Armor Break into the machina's side. The machina shone with a slight tint for a moment, and when the color left, the shine in the metal seemed to vanish as well. As if on cue, Tidus and I rushed forward, slashing into the weakened metal. We were both too fast for the creature's arms, and in moments it was spewing sparks and having trouble moving properly. Wakka smashed it in the shoulder joint as Kimahri charged in and stuck his spear in again, this time with success as the arm tore completely off. He fell back and Rikku ran in, this time with three grenades, which she activated and threw down the arm hole. The machina froze, as if it knew something was wrong, and a second later exploded, parts and gears and oil flying everywhere. If anyone but Rikku had done that they would have died; only she was fast enough to get in and out of the blast radius. I half felt like chewing her out for her recklessness, but decided against it. She as only doing her job as Guardian, so how could I be angry for it? I instead put my arm around her and thanked whatever higher power who would listen she was okay after that fight. We continued on towards the Ronso village, still hoping to make it there before nightfall.

* * *

Camp was quiet that night. We had found a cave about half way up Mt. Gagazet before we settled in. There was no other place to stay and it was too cold to camp outside, so we had to keep moving into the night. Kimahri was being bandaged up by Yuna at the moment. His 2-on-1 fight against Biran and Yenke had felt him seriously injured despite his win. Some of the deeper wounds refused to close, even with magic. I marveled at the fact we were even able to climb the mountain. Kelk almost didn't let us. Auron was now standing at the mouth of the cave on watch. Rikku was fast asleep, her head on Yuna's lap. The two were talking while Yuna worked, and she fell asleep right there. Tidus was sprawled out comically in front of the fire Lulu had created, earning a chuckle from me and Wakka, who also noticed the weird position he was in. He and Lulu were sitting next to each other, at some points almost getting lost in one another's eyes. They were so obvious now, but I wonder how much of it they realized themselves. I didn't have watch that night, so sleep was uninterrupted, a welcome change from many pilgrimage nights, but I really missed a certain somebody laying next to me.

* * *

Auron planned to get us to Zanarkand that day. Walking up the mountain, we all realized how little time we had left. It was painfully silent most of the morning. As we got higher Rikku fell back to talk with me for the first time that day.

"We're almost there."

"I know."

"Any ideas?"

"None at all. We could kidnap her again."

"For the rest of her life?"

"…You're right, Rikku. I wish I knew what to do…"

By now we had fallen behind the rest of the group. Rikku seemed really sad, and I pulled her into a hug. She seemed to stiffen, and I pulled back to see she wasn't concentrating on me, but on something behind me. Turning around, I saw something that shouldn't have been possible.

"So, we meet again I see, my dear commander."

"Rikku, run ahead and tell Auron."

"I'm not leaving you with him!" I pulled out Nightmare, my eyes never leaving Seymour, who stood near the edge of the precipice with an evil smile.

"I'll be fine. Go. Now!" She ran full tilt in the direction the others headed. I was now alone with Seymour.

"So tell me, why won't you die?"

"My dear, dear Lussyhtan, there's nothing wrong with being unsent. Why, I can name quite a few people who are."

"Like the rest of the Maesters?"

"Yes… Exactly," he said, erupting into laughter.

"SEYMOUR!" Tidus yelled as the rest made it back.

"Ah, the son of Jecht. And Lady Yuna, a pleasure as always." He then turned to Kimahri. "Yours truly was a gallant race. They threw themselves at me to stop me. One after another…" That cruel laughter made my blood boil.

"You monster!" Rikku yelled.

"How could you do such a thing?" I cried, giving Nightmare a practice swing before falling into battle stance.

"I was simply releasing them from their suffering, as I will soon do to all Spira. I've done it before, Arek. You know of what I speak! AND I SHALL DO IT AGAIN! SPIRA WILL BE HEALED BY MY REIGN AS SIN!" He began to change, then he fell from the cliff, rising back up in a terrible new form.

He sat in a giant chariot-like thing, with two swords imbedded in it. He held a giant lance. His body had changed once again, stranger than it was last time. The whole chariot just seemed to float off the edge of the cliff, meaning we'd have a much harder time fighting it. Nonetheless, we got into battle positions, and round three against Seymour began.

Auron and I led in a charge while Lulu charged up magic. Seymour attacked with his lance but I flipped over it, barely slowing my momentum as I drove Nightmare into the side of the chariot. Auron had been charging up Power Break, but it had no real effect aside from adding some extra punch to the attack. We fell back as Lulu and Wakka attacked to give us cover. Seymour responded by drawing his two swords and slicing them across horizontally at us. Everyone dove for cover, and thankfully no one was stuck dead on; a direct hit would have cut us in half.

We battled for at least ten minutes and Seymour showed no signs of relenting. We were throwing everything we had and it did no good. Things were looking bad, but suddenly they got a whole lot worse. The chariot began to buzz, and Seymour started laughing.

"Fools! In two minutes you will die! I simply must wait for Mortiorchis to charge!" We redoubled our efforts but it did no good.

"Yuna, do something!"

"I can't! There's no enough time to cast Protect on everyone!"

"Then do something else!" Her eyes widened in recognition and she began to concentrate. In seconds lightning fell from the sky, dancing around her. At the same time, Seymour floated upward, his chariot charged and ready to fire. Missile pods opened up from the side. Ixion wasn't out yet as the missiles flew towards us, signaling our impending doom. Time seemed to slow…

At the last second, Ixion burst into existence. It didn't even land as missile after missile struck it in the side. Seymour's attack continued relentlessly, and by the end Ixion was gone, having used itself as a shield to save us.

"Yuna, we need something bigger!"

"Okay. I'm ready!" Her staff began glowing, and it dawned on me she was Grand Summoning. A glyph appeared high in the sky, and Bahamut burst through, flying fast towards us. The disk on his back began to spin before he even touched down, and a great glow formed in his mouth. About twenty feet of the ground he fired his overdrive, the force of the blast rocketing him upwards. As he was launched back into the sky, he snagged the edge of a cliff above us with his claws, attaching himself to the side of the mountain as he fired downwards at Seymour. Mega Flare engulfed Seymour, along with a portion of the cliffside. No screams could be heard over the roar of the blast. When the dust finally cleared, there was a large semicircular portion of the cliff missing, and Seymour was no more. We wasted surprisingly little time after it was over. Yuna dismissed Bahamut, healed us, and we continued on. We hadn't made it too far when Auron spoke up.

"Arek, what did he mean?"

"Huh?"

"Yeah, what he said about doing it before! He said you knew what he was talking about." Rikku added.

"I don't really know. Maybe he meant about Home? I wouldn't be surprised if he ordered that attack himself."

"Yeah, maybe…"

But that explanation didn't settle right with me. If that was the case, why address me directly? We all saw what happened at Home. Even if Seymour had something to do with Home, something deep down told me what he spoke of was far worse…

* * *

Gagazet only got worse as we continued to climb. Tidus passed out at the fayth scar, and acted very strange after he woke up. He seemed distant, and there was a look in his eyes that I couldn't place. I made note to ask him what was up later. The trials inside the mountain were troublesome, but we figured them out fast enough. The fiends were challenging, but nothing we couldn't handle. However, as we reached the top of the mountain, the monster that waited us was beyond insanity.

It was well over twenty feet tall and at least fifty feet long. It was shaped vaguely like a giant tiger, except with long flexible needles emerging from its back that had the appearance of fleshless wings. Its head was flat, and its steam shovel mouth was large enough to swallow any of us whole. Auron called it the Guardian of Zanarkand. It was the Sanctuary Keeper that protected the city of the dead. With a mighty roar it began its attack.

Tidus, Auron, Kimahri and I all attempted to circle it and score some shots. Auron was simply too slow to dodge it though. For a giant fiend it sure moved fast. With one swipe Auron was smashed into the side of the mountain. He got up, but pulled back for the moment, looking for a better chance to move in. Tidus and I fared better, but after two shots, the fiend jumped impossibly high, getting back and out of our range as its wings glowed. It landed and the needles pointed straight up, and it fired charges that acted as mortars, raining down on us. I was immediately blinded. And poisoned. And cursed. I started backing away, hoping to stay out of its way, but a huge something connected with me and sent me flying. However, in midair my vision cleared and my strength returned. Kimahri, who had been far enough to the side to avoid the attack, had used his White Wind overdrive. I saw a field of snow whipping through the party, healing everyone from their wounds and ailments. My orientation returned, I backflipped twice in the air, landing facing the Keeper in a crouch a few yards behind everyone else. It was charging for another attack, this time the glow centering around its mouth. As I walked forward past the party, I felt my overdrive charging. I jumped into the air and unleashed Energy Wave, which clashed with the beast's Mana Breath. My attack held out for just ten seconds before I was rocketed backwards yet again, however the others had prepared in the meantime. Yuna healed me in mid-flight as Kimahri had done before. At the same time Lulu launched of Firaga Fury, taking advantage of a new spell she had learned while inside Gagazet's caves. Wakka attacked with an Element Reels, and Rikku had created a massive grenade which she heaved at the fiend's feet. Auron, Tidus, and Kimahri waited until the attacks had stopped, then charged in, successfully surrounding the Keeper as the pounded away at it. It roared in anger, attempting to jump up and escape again, but Tidus was ready with Spiral Cut, which connected before the fiend could get more than five feet off the ground. It smashed back down, attempted to get up, then finally collapsed and dissipated. Knowing how close we were to the end, no one said a thing. We had passed the final test. Nothing was left now but the task we all dreaded.

Rikku and I walked ahead, but she stopped to speak with Yuna. The rest of the group stopped as well, but I continued on, sparing a glance backwards at the group as I rounded the turn ahead. A few hundred feet ahead the cliff dropped away. I reached the edge and gazed out to the horizon. The sunset lit up the scenery amazingly, giving a beautiful yet eerie look to the buildings, which stretched literally out of sight. We had reached the City of the Dead. We had reached Zanarkand.

* * *

Wow everyone I am once again SO SORRY this took so long. I've been so busy and uninspired. This chapter took at least three weeks to finish, so yeah. I'll try to get going on the next one sooner. Happy Spring Break to all those who have it with me next week! Review if you even read this anymore (after the huge wait lol) and I'll hopefully see y'all again soon! 


	18. Late Night Musings

It had been three days since Yunalesca fell. We were flying around Spira looking for Legendary Weapons, whatever they were. So far we had found Yuna's and Kimahri's, but they were powerless without crests to unlock them. Those crests were murder to get too. I was still sore from dealing with a particularly nasty fiend we needed to sack for that damned arena guy. Why does he make monsters he can't control? I don't understand people sometimes…

That wasn't really what was bugging me though. Auron had commented more than once about my lack of focus in battle. More pieces of the puzzle were falling into place and I didn't like what the big picture was turning in to. At least the airship has comfortable beds. If it didn't I doubt I'd even be getting the 3 hours of sleep I've been managing each night. Horrible images were surfacing in my dreams. They all started after we took down the bitch.

* * *

_"If I die the hope of Spira dies with me!" Yunalesca screamed in agony. Nightmare was still imbedded in her stomach and I yanked it out with a flourish._

_"We'll find Spira a new hope then!" Yuna said. Ever the optimist, that one._

_"There is no other hope, for Yu Yevon the immortal will only make Sin anew!" she gasped out, coughing up blood._

_"Just shut up and die already, the theatrics are starting to bug me," I groaned. She spun at me with a hateful glare._

_"You! Filth! Hypocrite! YOU understand the truth! You understand my message! You've turned your back on the truth for false hope! You'll SUFFER for what you've done! AHHHHHHH!" Good old 'Lesca's last words. I shook my head and walked away, the others following me. It wasn't until later I realized Auron's look was one of shock.

* * *

_

It also wasn't until later that I began to realize the implications of what she'd said. I didn't like them. I didn't like them at all. Damn.

My dreams were considerably worse. I could never remember a face or a location. Just the two phrases Rikku recited to me from back in Luca. _"How could you, you monster…?" "You'll pay, I'll make you PAY!"_ I woke up every time in a cold sweat, heart racing, hand reaching to my back for a sword even though it wasn't there. I rarely made it back to sleep.

I look over at the clock. It's just past 3 in the morning. I know if I look in the mirror I'll look like a dead man. I'm lucky enough to have a room with a view and I watch the clouds dart by. My mind's been racing all night and I fear I have a solution. But I just need to know where. _Where_, dammit…? I know I'm not myself anymore but I don't care. That battle shook me up bad. Yunalesca's last words shook me up bad. If only I knew where…

Rin. I needed to talk to Rin. Double damn. I don't like where this is going at all.

* * *

Yup, it's back! I doubt I have any followers left but I want to finish it! If you go back and read some then read this I may have given myself away. But there are still plenty of surprises left. I MAY do a sequel but a lot of interest has been lost in this. We'll see what happens. Thanks to anyone who remained faithful to this story, sorry for the wait. I'll try to get back on track now along with my other works. Later! 


	19. Baaj

I never made it back to sleep and instead went over everything again. At least this way there wasn't any nightmares. When my alarm clock buzzed 8 a.m. I stood up and quickly left the room. I wasn't sure if anyone else was up but my unasked question was answered when I saw Rin outside the bridge. I thought about saluting but decided against it. The Al Bhed Secret Service was more defunct than our nearly-extinct race.

"Rin, there's something we need to discuss."

"Ah, Arek, glad you stopped by. I was hoping for that report on the situation at Home, I know I never exactly assigned it to you but I was hoping…"

"NOW, Rin. I need to discuss it now!" He paused mid-sentence and for a tenth of a second looked a bit like a gaping fish, but regained his composure almost immediately.

"Of course, Arek. How may I be of assistance?"

"I need to know where my last mission was. Where was I to meet with Lord Jyscal?"

"Might I ask why you need to know this? I would have thought knowing what you were doing would be more important."

"Trust me, I have a feeling I'll understand why once I see where with my own eyes." Rin seemed uneasy for a moment but caught the impatience in my glare.

"As much as I wish I could, I'm not authorized to divulge mission locations. Cid holds me in strictest confidence…" Rin never got any farther. Out of nowhere I lifted him up and slammed him into the wall of the airship. It seemed like a monster was in my chest, roaring to be released. I could almost feel its fangs bared at Rin and I somehow knew he saw its ferocity in me. I didn't think about this until later though. All I wanted right now was information.

"Baaj… Baaj Temple, it was Baaj Temple!" he stuttered out. The feeling seemed to ebb away and I lowered him down.

"Sorry Rin," I said, barely sounding apologetic. "I don't know where that is though, do you have coordinates?" He gave them to me and I spun on my heel and made for the bridge. What I didn't see was Rin turning around to examine the dent left in the wall.

I walked past Auron without a second glance and into the bridge. I caught the end of a conversation before I interrupted it.

"…hoping we could look for Lulu's Weapon next."

"Yeah, but do we know where it is?"

"Baaj," I butted in while making my way to the control globe. I began poking buttons until I came up with a world map.

"You're sure that's where it is?" Yuna asked hesitantly. Everyone noticed my mood shift after the last battle and had taken to avoiding me a bit. I was probably as bad or worse than I was when I first showed up on the beach.

"Hell if I know," I grumbled, still immersed in the panel, "but that's where we're going." Yuna looked totally taken aback and seemed to have lost her voice at this. Rikku hadn't though.

"Arek what the HELL has gotten into you! Why are you like this? LOOK AT ME!" She spun me from the panel to face her. I looked into her eyes and after a long minute melted at the mix of hurt and compassion I saw there. Whatever she expected it wasn't the embrace I engulfed her in.

"I'm sorry," I told her quietly. "A lot's been going on but I can't tell you yet. I need to get to Baaj. I might be able to find some answers there. Trust me?" She looked up with a watery smile.

"Always. Just be careful, okay?"

"Always," I whispered, returning the smile slightly. Cid decided to ruin the moment.

"We found a weapon signature from that dump you entered in, boy! Why don't we drop in and borrow it?" I gave a half snort before double checking the coordinates.

"Guess I was right after all…"

* * *

We touched down outside of the main entrance and made our way in. The weapon tracker said what we were looking for was below us. The group decided to check it out but just before I jumped in I froze. I could feel something… something just ahead. Like it was calling to me... I knew my answers were just ahead, I _knew_ it!

"Go on without me, there's something I need to do!" I shouted out before making an inhuman leap across the missing section of the bridge before me. I charged across, through a winding mess of passages. Left, left, right, straight, left, right, right again… Now huge double doors stood before me, probably twice my height and engraved with the symbol of Yevon. I paused for a moment to gather myself then grabbed the handles and threw the doors open to reveal…

An office. An office in disrepair it would seem. There was an old desk that was stained and blackened, dead skeletons of houseplants, dark grime-stained walls, and a floor that may have been marble at one point but now seemed charred and tainted beyond recognition. Why I was drawn here I didn't know, but I knew this was important. I walked over to the desk and examined it a bit closer. A very dark stain was still noticeable at one part and some of the papers were stained too, but in the poor lighting it was hard to tell with _what_. An old broken desk lamp, a dead houseplant, a nameplate… Wait, a nameplate! I grabbed it a rubbed off the filth to be greeted with the name of…

Lord Jyscal Guado.

When the pyreflies started coming out of nowhere I jumped back quite a ways, back close to the door. The doors slammed shut behind me blocking my escape though so there was little point. More and more pyreflies flooded into the room yet it kept that same oppressive darkness. They began to swirl around, faster and faster, until the whole room was a blur of dark light. Suddenly they all stopped, hanging in place like thousands of tiny stars, no longer whining but deathly silent. Suddenly they all exploded with light and I had to shield my eyes. When I was able to open them again everything had changed.

* * *

Short, but I'm getting near the end and I need to keep motivated. Just a few more chapters and an epilogue. I'm thinking about maybe 2 or 3 longer chapters to end, then an epilogue. Sound good? I bet you've figured out what's up, but if not awesome, you're in for it next time! I heard they want us to keep these short but huge thanks to everyone who reviewed, you're the only reason this got out so fast! I'll try to have the next chapter out by early next week. Later! 


	20. The Room

WARNING - some graphic violence. not too bad, but you've been warned.

* * *

Everything in the room was new again. The marble floors were immaculate, the walls and ceilings were beautiful, clean, and ornate. The plants were alive. I stood frozen in confusion until I looked at the desk, which was also looking like it would have when the office was in use. Which couldn't have been too long ago, as Seymour Guado was standing behind the desk. "What the hell are you…" but I stopped short when I saw what was in the chair.

A man, presumably Jyscal Guado, lay sprawled across the desk in a pool of his own blood. The hole in his back was indication that someone had reached through and ripped his heart out. Before I could even respond the doors opened and a man strode into the room.

Me.

He was dressed in all black with a gunblade on his back. When I looked close I could see a few military bars on the shirt underneath the cloak. He stopped right where I was standing and though I couldn't feel anything, I leapt back out of surprise. This must be a memory.

Arek stopped with his eyes wide. "What's going on here? What happened?" he asked. "Who are you? Did you find Lord Jyscal this way? Who did this?" his voice kept getting more urgent, even though the truth hadn't dawned on him yet. Seymour smiled and raised a hand above the table to wave dismissively. It was covered in blood.

"Slow down my friend, or I fear I won't be able to answer your questions," he smirked superiorly. "I'm actually preparing dispose of this evidence and leave, I was just taking care of some business, I would be Seymour Guado, and yes, I found father this way."

"Do you know who did this?" Arek asked slowly. Seymour gave a big, genuine smile at this.

"Well I should think it would be obvious. I did," he said before laughing. He laughed not like a homicidal maniac, but like he had just told a really good joke.

"No… it's not possible…"

"Oh it's quite possible," Seymour grinned evilly. As he brought his other hand up to the table there was a squish and a thud. "You see, body has quite a difficult time living without a heart. My… late father here encountered that problem just recently," he chuckled again.

"How could you, you monster…?" Arek trailed off, eyes wide with shock. Seymour just smiled that same evil smile.

"I though I just explained it to you Commander Arek. Surely you don't need a more… detailed explanation?"

"But… why?"

"Ah, the million dollar question," Seymour droned and he shoved the body out of the desk chair and sat down. He put his feet up on the desk and continued. "It was quite simple really. There were two reasons. My father was a fool of an idealist," he spat. "He thought that our noble race could co-exist with scum like the Al Bhed. In fact, I believe you were here to finalize a deal on that matter?" he asked. Upon receiving no response he continued. "I simply _couldn't_ have that. So I took matters into my own hands. Secondly, it makes it so much easier for myself. With my father out of the way I'm a shoo-in for Maester. Politics is a fickle friend, you know."

"So you'd murder your own father over some half-baked hatred of a race you don't even understand!" Arek screamed.

"You should be thankful, I'll be helping your people," Seymour said as he rose and began to pace. "They live in the desert toiling away their meager existence. Yes Arek, I know where your people live, it's only a matter of time before I see to it. They suffer in the heat, but soon they'll be _free_ from suffering. Don't you see, Arek," he turned back towards him with a maniacal gleam in his eye. "Don't you _see_? Death is the _release_, it is the _freedom_! You'll be free from your pain, free from the suffering and the persecution! My plan is already underway Arek, and soon _all_ of Spira shall be free!" With that he began a sickening laugh, one full of such evil that it made Arek's skin crawl. He didn't respond but instead pulled his gunblade off his back. Seymour noticed and stopped laughing.

"You would seek to stop me then Arek?" he asked quietly. "Surely you understand my grand vision, _surely_ you must agree it is better for people to not suffer. You don't want people to suffer, do you Arek?"

"I don't buy into _any_ of the bullshit you just fed me," Arek gritted out, "but I'd sure as hell like to see you suffer a bit." He advanced forward a step, sword at the ready. Seymour smiled a sad smile.

"I see. Very well then, if you love to suffer so much I shall grant you your wish. Perhaps after I deal with you I'll see to that wisp of a girl you seem to care for so much. I'm sure she would agree with my plan, and if not, she can suffer while your home burns to the gr…."

"NO! YOU LEAVE RIKKU OUT OF THIS!" Arek screamed. "You WON'T get away with this you sick bastard! You'll pay, I'll make you PAY!" and with that Arek charged full speed at Seymour.

* * *

i was seriously goona make this longer but i just haven't had the time. i know if i don't keep updating i'll never finish. i'm going as fast asw a can but i'm getting my last wisdom teeth ripped outthis week if they use gas i'll probably be too loopy to write well. i'll have another (hopefully longer) chapter out soon. 


	21. The Truth

Arek leapt over the corner of the desk and swung his gunblade while in the air, but Seymour dodged with seemingly superhuman speed. He launched a Fira spell which narrowly missed Arek but struck Jyscal Guado's body. The explosion blasted the body and the chair into the far wall where they burst into flame. Arek charged again, but ducked partway and struck with an upward lunge. Seymour spun sideways and slipped behind a column, which was missing a large chunk seconds later when Arek reversed his direction and missed Seymour again by a few inches. They continued on for a few minutes before breaking apart and landing several yards apart. Arek was panting slightly with rage and effort, but Seymour looked on coolly.

"Surely now, that's not all you have?"

"Stuff it you bastard, I'm just getting started!"

The fight began again in earnest, this time continuing for a good fifteen minutes. Arek's blade never landed, but Seymour was unable to strike with a spell either. Arek saw his opportunity when Seymour slid behind the desk again. He threw the gunblade and followed it in. Seymour dodged, as expected, but never saw Arek's foot until it was too late. The kick knocked him off balance and gave Arek enough time to pull the blade out of the column it had sunk itself into. He landed on one foot and spun, drawing a bright red line across Seymour's chest. He jumped back and walked to the center of the room as the Maester-to-be looked down in shock. After a full minute though, Seymour began to laugh. And laugh. It grew to a wild, demonic howling of mirth, until Arek could take no more.

"Shut up! JUST SHUT UP AND GIVE UP ALREADY! STOP LAUGHING DAMMIT!" he roared. Seymour's laughing slowly began to die down until he was simply gazing intently at Arek.

"I suppose I should thank you Arek. If you didn't draw blood on me soon I would have had to do it myself."

"Wha…"

"Different magics require different fuels, you see. Some require raw power, others a force of will, some love," he spat, "but others… pain. Blood. You see Arek, I have discovered a spell fueled by my own pain. I've been simply dying to try it out. Let's see what it does, shall we? _Dismal!_"

The room grew dark. Arek couldn't see what was happening around him. It was as though he had gone blind. Out of nowhere the pain hit. He screamed, he couldn't help it, but it only seemed to make it worse. Thousands of knives were tearing him apart as his blood was set on fire. He could feel his nerves being torn out and ground to dust. He screamed louder, begging for it to end but it wouldn't. Just as he thought he would loose his mind…

It stopped.

He fell. Smoking. He didn't know he had dropped his sword.

He struggled to his knees. It hurt too much to move any farther.

A scrape. Someone picking up his sword.

Seymour standing over him.

Saying something. Ears ringing. Can't make it out…

_Squelch_.

I saw the sword bury itself in my back. My own sword. Seymour stood there watching the pool of blood grow larger. When he was satisfied, he left, blowing a kiss and laughing like something was truly funny. I didn't realize until now that I too had fallen to my knees. After a few tense moments I saw my body rise, front and back covered in blood. My gunblade had gone all the way through. It reached around, gingerly fingered the handle, then all at once grabbed and _wrenched_ it out it a horrifying anguished scream.

"Must… stop…" it rasped. "Find… summoner… stop… _monster_…" it nearly whispered. It gazed around the room before shuffling for the exit, then suddenly stopped and locked eyes with me. Everything came flooding back in one rush.

* * *

_A little boy of no more than four sat in his room playing with a small machina. It looked like a little six-legged animal with glowing green eyes. A leg broke off but instead of crying, the boy began trying to reattach the leg. After a few minutes he succeeded and laughed merrily as the machina ran off again. His parents stood in the doorway watching. They were both blond, in their early twenties. The woman was short and petite with a sweet face and a smile that never seemed to fade. The man had small half moon glasses and a scruffy five o'clock shadow. He could make a girl's heart stop with a glance but had eyes for only one. One look at her and his face would light up with joy._

_"He'll be a whiz when he grows up, won't he?" the lady asked._

_"No doubt about it. He's got your talent," the man said, pulling his wife close._

_"Stop sucking up," she giggled, looking up at him adoringly. The man lightly kissed her nose._

_"You're shorter than me, so it would actually be sucking down…" he said grinning._

_"Shut up!" she shoved him and a play fight began. The boy watched his parents and started laughing. Mommy and daddy always did that. They loved him, and each other._

…

_A boy of about seven stood in a room full of people. The two coffins before him were empty; the bodies had never been found. His parents had been attacked while at sea and Sin had taken the whole boat down. He wouldn't cry though. When he had first found out, he cried. But now he wouldn't. He was a big boy now. He was on his own. He had no other family; it was time to grow up._

_"I love you both," he whispered, fighting back the tears with all his strength. "I'm going to fight. I'll avenge you, I promise."_

…

_A boy of about ten or eleven stood in formation with a group of other boys. A man named Rin was taking over their training today. He looked formidable in his full military uniform, but the boy wouldn't budge or cower. He had been taken with these boys from the rest of the group and they were now in a facility deep below Home. Rin marched down the line and stopped in front of him. He appeared to be reading something on his clipboard. He looked down at the boy, who was a good few inches shorter than the rest._

_"KALYKKU!" Rin bellowed at him._

_"SIR YES SIR!" the boy yelled back._

_"At ease." Kalykku relaxed, but only slightly. "Your report says you're the best trained here by far. That correct?"_

_"…Sir?"_

_"Guess you weren't told then… I'll be having a word with the C.O. upstairs. Anyways, since you weren't told, all your training will be with me from here on out. The rest of you will be taught by my closest aides for the most part, I'll only be joining you about twice a week. Congratulations son, you're gonna be the head of this group. You all are the best of our secret service cadets. But you, Kalykku, you're the best of the best. You're the leader of SandStorm."_

…

_A 13 year old Kalykku stood high on a rock over one of Sanubia's few oasis's. He was shirtless and the years of combat exercise showed in his very toned muscles. He was finished with drills for the day and was trying to get back the tan he had lost staying underground so much. Part of SandStorm training meant he couldn't leave the facility for the first year. He was still a bit pale from it. As he prepared to dive he heard a scream in the desert._

_Kalykku leapt from the rock over the oasis, landing in a crouch and making no sound. Leaving his shirt, he grabbed the broadsword he had been given for training and tore off into the desert. It didn't take long to find the source of the scream. A girl about his age was under attack by a sand drake. Kalykku reversed his grip and dove at the creature as it charged the girl, slicing its throat open as he passed. The drake stopped, its eyes wide with shock, and wheezed a few times before falling forward and disintegrating. The boy stuck his sword into the sand and turned to the girl._

_"Are you o… aagh!" he never finished before the girl jumped on him, nearly smothering him in a huge hug._

_"Thank you! Thankyouthankyouthankyouthankyouthankyou! I thought it had me!" she said, still half-crying._

_"Hey, relax, you're fine now. What were you doing out here alone?"_

_"I was collecting parts for my dad. He needed some stuff and I thought I'd seen some around here before so I kinda snuck out…" Kalykku pulled back and looked at her._

_"You are…?" her eyes widened for a second._

_"Oops! I didn't introduce myself! Stupid stupid stupid! I'm Rikku, nice to meet you!" she said, politely holding her hand out. The boy grinned a little at the politeness following her outburst a second before._

_"Kalykku. Nice to meet you," he returned, shaking her hand firmly, but not hard. Etiquette was part of the training, after all. "Who did you say your father was again?"_

_"I didn't. It's Cid."_

_"You're Cid's girl? The comman… I mean, the leader's daughter?" She jumped back when he said that, her face flashing with anger._

_"Don't call me that! Where's Gippal? Did he put you up to this?" The boy just looked confused._

_"Who?" She sighed._

_"This jerk I know. He's nice when he's not with his friends, I guess. But he's still not a very good friend."_

_"Oh, well I haven't met him."_

_"I've never seen you around. Why not?" Rikku asked, abruptly changing the subject._

_"I work on the mainland a lot . I've been there for about three years now but I'm back. I work with Rin's business and I'm usually running errands for him," Kalykku lied smoothly. A good cover story was part of the training as well._

_"If you work for a business then why can you fight so good?" she pressed._

_"I travel. You know, running errands?" he said patiently. She stopped for a second then laughed._

_"Sorry, I'm not usually that thick. I'm still just a little shook up I guess. Eeep! Look at the time," she exclaimed, glancing down at her watch. "I gotta run of my dad'll filet me! Nice to meet you Kalykku! Can we hang out some time?" she asked._

_"I'd like that," he smiled. They said their goodbyes and as Kalykku turned his foot caught something in the sand._

_"Rikku! Is this what you were looking for?" he called out. She ran over and they dug it out together. It was a weapon of some kind. It attached to the arm and ended in wicked metal claws. Next to it was a small shield. Rikku squealed when she saw them._

_"This is even better! I've been trying to find one of these for ages! They've been out of production for a few years now and we need a model to start it back up!" She slipped the claw and targe on and took a few practice swings. She looked up at Kalykku and grinned ferally. "I could get used to this!"_

…

_Kalykku stood before the other members of SandStorm, having just been commissioned leader by Cid himself._

_"Congrats boy, but promise me sumthin, you hear?"_

_"Yes sir, anything."_

_"Drop the sir first. You've been dating my daughter over a year now, I think we're past that. Second, you have to promise me not to tell her, understand? You ain't bound by law anymore, but you've got common sense. She'll follow you if she knows. Keep my girl safe."_

_"I'd protect her with my life, Cid."_

_"I know you will boy, that's why I keep ya around!" he said happily, slapping Kalykku on the back. "Last order of business! You need an operative name. Something that can't be traced to you. From here on out you go by that instead, ya hear? It'll keep you safe. So! What'll it be?"_

_Kalykku thought for a moment. "It'll be my father's middle name." Cid frowned._

_"It's not on record so I don't know it."_

_"Arek. My name is Arek."_

…

_They were lying out under the stars by the oasis where they had first met. Rikku was crying, and Kalykku was holding her._

_"You… really don't know when you're coming back?" she got out through her small sobs._

_"No sweetheart, I'm sorry. It's military business, you know how that can go."_

_"Why did you join?" Kalykku had told her he joined the military as an excuse for his mission. He left for his first assignment tomorrow._

_"I told my parents I'd avenge them. Sin's back, you know. Now I have the chance."_

_"Baby you don't have to do that!" she exclaimed. "They'd love you either way, you know that!" Kalykku shook his head._

_"I promised. I have to, Rikku. Please understand." She looked at him sadly and sighed._

_"I know. I do. It's just… come back to me. Promise!" He smiled sadly and pulled a ring out of his pocket. He slid it onto her finger as she stared at it wordlessly._

_"I promise. This is proof of it and a lot more. When I come back… well, I'll ask you then." The ring was gold with a beautiful gem flower in the shape of a desert rose. The center of the flower was a small ruby and the petals were a pale green gemstone, lighter than emerald but just as breathtaking. She cried harder, but now with happiness._

_"Yes. I love you, and my answer is yes," she got out. Kalykku just smiled again._

_"It's a promise ring, babe. You don't have to answer now."_

_"I don't care! It's yes and it always will be. Don't forget it."_

_"I won't."_

…

_Arek was dead and he knew it. He'd failed his mission. He'd never see Rikku again. Seymour KNEW. He had to protect her. He had to protect… protect… who? His memory was fading. His life was slipping away, he had to find a way to let someone know… He looked around, then paused in concentration. Pryeflies poured out of him, gathering across the room. They exploded outward, fading out and soaking into the walls. The boy knew nothing now. The body moved of its own accord out the door of the now-ruined room, bent on accomplishing the mission binding it to the world.

* * *

_

I screamed. And screamed. Not in physical pain, but in anguish of all I had lost. I was _dead_. My family was _dead_. I had lost everything to Seymour, and now here I stood in the room where it happened. I collapsed and cried. There was nothing else I could do. After some time I sat up and looked at my hands. As I thought about it, pyreflies slowly edged out of them, then out of my whole body, forming a soft cloud around me. Suddenly I felt a strong hand on my back. I sucked them all back in and turned.

Auron.

It was too late, he'd seen. But the look in his eyes, it wasn't shock, disgust, anger… it was…

Compassion? Understanding?

I leapt up and jumped away, not saying anything but looking Auron straight in the eye. Nothing was said for a full minute, then I spoke.

"I suppose you'll want to get Yuna then." Auron actually smiled a sad, bitter smile. I nearly jumped again when I saw them come out of him too.

"She'd have to get rid of us both, I suppose. Your secret is safe, I've known for some time."

"How…?"

"When you know you're dead you can see the signs. The near inhuman strength. As of recently the increasing anger. Things that have been said. It all adds up."

"Why are you still here?"

"Same as you, someone I must protect. Two someones, actually."

"You saw?"

"Yes. Everything. I imagine you'll be bound here until Seymour is gone for good. He was the threat to your promised, after all."

"How did you know about _that_!"

"I. Saw. Everything. The memories interacted with all in the room, I believe. Not intentionally, I'm sure, but you were dead after all. It's not like you were able to plan out how this would work down to the letter."

"So… What happens now?"

"You must control your temper. I've seen it starting to show. If you let it win you'll become a fiend. After you complete your final mission you'll have nothing holding you here. Your time will be short."

"Rikku…"

"Tell her, Arek. She thinks you're dead. Rin told her you died. He said she was grieving for weeks."

"… I will." Auron paused for a moment and reached into his pocket. He extracted a small mirror which was vibrating angrily.

"Stole this from the boy. Looks like something's in here. But where…?" He walked around until he got to the desk, where the mirror seemed to vibrate the hardest. He kicked the bottom drawer of the desk to loosen it and yanked it open. A chest was inside which he called me over to investigate. I held the mirror and the latch popped. The chest was deeper than was physically possible, as my whole arm went in as I extracted what was inside.

The blade that came out was nothing short of perfect. It was long enough to be two handed but light enough to easily wield with one. It was a true katana, not the massive Auron-style kind. The whole of the weapon was a beautiful azure blue. The hilt had gold accents, as did the sheath. The very edge of the blade was a brilliant gold as well. Written along the sword's blade was its name.

"The Last Song From Zion?" I muttered, looking to Auron, who merely shrugged.

"Beats me. I've never heard of it. But it will be very strong once we unlock it. Come on, the others are waiting."

* * *

We're at 8 pages so I'll stop. I was gonna keep going but hey, I'm tired and want to get this out. Wisdom tooth weekend went well but was actually too busy to get any work done. So I'm a bit late but I made up for it by making the length like triple. Woot. Review, I took over 4 hours to do this just for you all! Shout out to anyone who can figure where the sword name came from. Here's a hint – think audio, not video. Lol. Later! 


	22. My Inner Demons

Over two years.

the last year was a terrible time in my life, but i have no excuse for the first year, and i'm sorry. so much time has passed that it feels like i'm reading another person's work. i'm finally getting my lifeback on track, and when i looked back and saw this story unfinished, i was overcome with an urge to finally complete it. i didn't make the same mistake as last time, either - i DO have a plan, i DO have notes, and i DO have a timetable for the completion of it.

1 more chapter, plus an epilogue.

thank you to anyone who loved the story and still decides to see it through with me. i'll be giving just a teensy bit of fanservice to what's become my favorite anime. NOT naruto, God forbid.. snickers it revolves around Arek's new sword, but you'll understand more when it's actually put to use. the final battle with Seymour is next. it'll be epic.

one last thing - can anyone guess the name of Arek's sword based on this chapter? i'll be so happy if you can.

* * *

_'Can you hear me?'_

I shook my head and growled.

_'I know you hear my voice.'_

"AAAARGHH!" Several Al Bhed near by yelped and scattered. It had been a few days since… that day, and ever since I continued to hear voices in my head. Dead or not, hearing voices isn't a good thing.

"Better than that other one," I muttered under my breath. Every time I thought of Seymour…

_Kill…. must kill… must feast… rip tear kill kill KILL!_

I punched the wall in fury, leaving a hole in the sheet metal. I stared intently at it, then sighed and continued through the airship. I had been acting out violently since then as well, it seemed to be the only way to dispel the horrid rage that continued to well up in me. I was avoiding Auron. I expected a lecture, and lectures only make me mad.

_'I can help you with your anger,'_ the voice whispered. I had just returned to my room and I closed and locked the door as I tossed my new sword lightly on my bed. _'I can teach you to-'_

It stopped.

I stared at the sword, and it suddenly dawned on me that the only time I heard the voice was when I wore it. I sat down slowly on the bed, eying the sheathed weapon as though it were an enemy. I reached out and slowly lay my hand on the blade…

The world was ripped out from under me.

_I was standing on a hill at night. It was dark, so dark that I could only just make out the outline of the taller hills around me, some with jagged cliffs and many with trees growing along them. A fence ran around the crest of the hill in a perfect circle, with the only light aside from the moon and stars above coming from eight tall torches spaced evenly around the enclosure. Just inside the torch ring were eight large cauldrons, bubbling with some thick liquid. I stood in the middle, my head twisting this way and that._

_"So you finally understand," the voice boomed. It was louder, so much louder, and it was deep and gravelly. It growled in a way that spoke of ancient power, long forgotten._

_"You're my sword," I whispered back, as close to fear as I'd ever been. I knew my strength meant nothing here._

_"Yes," it thundered, "and no. Do you yet understand the title etched within your sword?" I frowned._

_"The Last Song From Zion," I replied, deep in thought. "It means you're the last of something…"_

_"Indeed," it chuckled, the sound vibrating within my chest. "It is a title for what I am. I am the last sword forged with an Aeon inside, before the art of summoning was born long ago. My power rests within the very steel, but you must know my name before I can truly be used. To know my name you must look upon my face. Can you see my face, child?" I turned and looked around me, seeing nothing._

_"No, I see nothing," I said quietly, searching the enclosure. The voice sighed._

_"Then you are not ready, for you know not where to look. I will come for you again, when you need my strength the most. Your power has grown, and yet faded with the revelations of Baaj. You'll find the fiend within you gives you great strength, but your overdrives are no more. You've become less human in your rage and your grief, you must find control, or you will become what you would protect your friends from."_

_The world tore asunder._

I sat up, gasping for air and panting. I looked wildly around the room, seeing nothing. Only minutes had passed, and I shook the experience from my mind as best as I could, standing but leaving my titled-but-unnamed sword behind. I rose and headed to the bridge, intent on finding Cid. I have been avoiding Rikku again, this time out of fear that she'd suddenly recognize who I once was, the boy who had promised himself to her before dying on some fool mission. I knew that Cid had respected me back then, and even though I never saw him as much of a father figure, I hoped I could gain some kind of fatherly advice from him.

As I stepped briskly onto the bridge, all eyes turned to me. Yuna appeared apprehensive; Tidus determined. Lulu was quietly stoic. Wakka smiled slightly, but appeared more reserved than he once was. Auron appeared indifferent, yet was slightly on edge at my presence. Kimahri just appeared indifferent. Rikku was nowhere to be seen. I searched out Cid, and he seemed to understand immediately. I left as silently as I'd entered, and he followed me into the hallway.

"I was wonderin' when ya'd wanna talk," he said quietly as the door closed behind us.

"You knew?"

"Brother knew first, really. He told me, I woulda guessed though. Rikku's just blocked it from her mind, I think. She was… I ain't no poet, but she was hurtin' somthin' bad, back then," Cid continued, looking anywhere but at me.

"What should I do, Cid?" I asked, trying to get it out before I lost my nerve. "Once I murder that filthy, hell-spawned, worm-ridden _bastard_-"

"Kid."

I stopped and turned to him, holding back the building rage. Instead of the expected fear, the fear a sinister part of me expected, _reveled_ in, I saw a quiet sadness in Cid's eyes.

"You've gotta let it go," he said gently, "Look at yerself; yer eyes are yellow, you're lookin' like a fiend dern near ready to leap on a Guado, fer goodness sake!" He laid his hand on my shoulder. "Kid, why'd you learn to fight?" I frowned some; this was certainly off topic.

"For revenge on Sin, for taking my parents."

"And why are ya still here?"

"For revenge on Seymour, for killing me and taking away my life." Cid shook his head.

"Kid, Seymour didn't take yer life. Ya did that to yerself with all this revenge. You've been livin' every day to get back at somethin', and where'd it get ya? Yer gonna go when he goes, but yer never gonna be at peace till ya make peace with yerself, and till ya find real reason fer livin' outside'a bitterness." He snorted and shook his head.

"An' here I didn't wanna get into all this pansy touchy bullshit," he chuckled and slapped my shoulder. "Tell her. She deserves it. Make this about her for once, not you."

I stood there stunned as he went back into the bridge, barely realizing that he had left.

_Make this about her for once, not you._

I was making this about her. She couldn't know, it would break her all over again. She'd find out at the end. I wasn't long for this world and that was that. We'd kill Sin, then I'd find Seymour and bathe in his blood.

I headed back for my room. There was nothing for me to say to her now. It was too late.


	23. I Don't Fight for Revenge

here's the final chapter before the epilogue. yes, i sat down and typed all afternoon and into the evening to finish it. i hope you all like it. i want to give **anbu713** a whole plate of cookies and a flat screen TV first, hehe . he was sooooo close, closer than i honestly expected anyone to get. you referenced the right show, it's my faaaavorite anime! i'll explain all about it at the bottom so i don't spoil the ending.

* * *

We had planned out the assault on Sin. Well, more specifically, everyone else did, as I was standing back in the corner trying to get my sword to talk. It had stopped speaking after dragging me into its little Aeon world and I knew I needed its power to fight Seymour. It frustrated me to no end to be arguing with a friggin' sword.

I sighed. We were approaching the monster itself as it hung in the sky over Bevelle. I knew I'd be mostly useless without my overdrives; the others all had either Legendary Weapons or Rikku-customized knockoffs that were nearly as good. I wondered idly if my sword would even pierce Sin's skin when we flew in close.

I thought I heard a mental snort. Damn sword.

The team ran up to the deck to fight with me following sedately behind. Auron hung back as the others went up the lift, waiting for me. I waved him off, but he suddenly grabbed me and slammed me into the side of the ship so hard I thought it would knock us off course. I looked up in surprise into his eye, which was glowing a fierce yellow.

"Get... a… hold of yourself," he ground out. I growled back, feeling the power in me trying to break lose. I saw through my rage as I struck his chest, blasting him backwards and to his knees. He gasped for air, glaring at me.

"I… will… have my revenge," I managed, my chest heaving. I could have sworn I heard a second voice speaking with mine. It sounded dark and deep, powerful yet terribly wrong. A closed my eyes and took a few shuddering breaths before boarding the lift, not waiting for him as it rose.

The fight had already begun upon my arrival; the airship flew in low and close as the party hammered at the ancient beast's fin. I watched, feeling oddly detached from the battle around me. Suddenly, I saw an opening and my body reacted before my mind. It took only three steps to cross the deck and draw a long line down the fin. My blade wouldn't cut deep so the effect was minimal, and I once again lamented the loss of my original gunblade. I'd pay Seymour back for that as well.

Auron arrived and timely dispatched of the entire fin with a Shooting Star. We floated back up higher and, in an act of what I will forever describe as foolishness, leapt onto the back of the most feared monster in Spiran history.

There was a strange nub growing out of Sin's back, but a massive Sinspawn was standing between us and it. Fortunately, it was stuck to Sin's back; we weren't. Tidus called out the tactics and we obliged.

"Mages stay back! Everyone else surround it, fast fighters take out the tentacles!" As Rikku and Tidus went to handle the spiky waving arms, Auron and Kimahri ran around back. Wakka's ball to the face continued to distract it, and after a few flares from the girls it went down. I snorted and looked at the sword in my hand.

Why wouldn't it speak to me?

The core cast powerful magic, but our magic was stronger. It was so high up that anyone with a sword simply stood in front of Lulu and Yuna while they continued to blast it with magic. We took the brunt of the attacks, but Rikku had stocked up on potions and played medic. She looked me in the eyes once; I tried to smile, but it must have come out as a grimace, because she kept her head down when she healed me from then on.

I missed my Rikku, but it was better this way. It would hurt her less later, wouldn't it?

The fighting continued along in that same mental haze for me – the others would fight, and I would stand there, out of the way. I knew I was receiving looks, but since Baaj it was obvious that something was different about me, and the others were either respecting my space or too nervous to approach me about it.

It was fitting that Tidus scored the last strike on the monster Sin, as we neared its mouth. Its many wiggly eyes goggled evilly at us just before Blitz Ace annihilated several of them, making the monster scream in agony. A huge vortex exploded to life around us, and Cid flew us right down the damned thing's throat. Upon crossing the threshold though, we found no throat or stomach but instead what appeared to be another world. I looked around apprehensively, feeling the presence inside me growling and twisting. It felt like indigestion. I looked at Auron and saw an unpleasant look on his face. He saw me and nodded. I nodded back; it was as close to an apology as I'd get, and I guess he knew it.

Rikku was looking around and smiling, jumping to try and catch the pyreflies that drifted past through the strange blue and orange sky. The beast calmed and I bravely stepped forward nearer to her. She saw me as she spun, and the smile slid from her face. I opened my mouth to speak, when suddenly the whole world shuddered.

That laugh. I'd know it anywhere.

The sky darkened and a huge eye opened before us. It felt like it was staring straight through me. I was burning with rage, I felt like my skin was about to blister off from fury. I let out a screeching inhuman roar, but it was covered by the explosive blast of heat as the eye seemed to explode at us, hot wind rushing by impossibly fast. I instinctively lunged for Rikku, wrapping her tightly in my arms and shielding her face from the heat until it passed. For just a moment the awful rage subsided; I felt her warmth against me and the way she still cuddled perfectly to my chest. Her eyes slowly opened and she looked up at me. Smiling faintly, she leaned up on her tiptoes and kissed the corner of my mouth before stepping back and away. As she left my embrace I felt cold and empty inside again, for just a moment, before the hot rage overtook me as I remembered why it couldn't be like this forever. I turned on my heel and marched to the lift.

The sooner we landed, the sooner that bastard would meet his maker.

* * *

The world we stepped down into was so vastly alien that words don't describe it. A thick fog hung over everything, obscuring most of the distant landscape. It looked like it was half city, half living flesh, but the ground beneath us for ages in each direction was darkly transparent, like dirty glass. We looked around at our friends, the realization sinking in that we were truly off the edge of the map, and that some of us might not make it back. I snorted to myself as we set off.

If Seymour was here, he'd soon be dead, and as such I _knew_ that at least one of us wouldn't be making it back.

It may have been minutes or days that we trudged through the foggy plain. We'd occasionally see a tail or appendage through the gloom, and one time we saw a pair of glowing yellow eyes and reminded me too much of what mine must look like. No fiends ever came close though. I held back for Auron and voiced my observation.

"Jecht may yet hold some sway over events inside Sin's skin," he replied. "But I am unsure. It could be that something… else… dwells here." I nodded.

"He's here, Auron. You know he is."

"Will you kill him?" I nodded again.

"I will."

We approached a stairway, and Tidus halted. I never broke pace and continued up. I froze on the top stair.

That smile made me snarl, and I drew my blade. The sound made the others come running, but I had already crossed half the distance to him.

"Arek!"

"Don' do it brudda!"

"Arek wait!"

"Stop!"

"NO!"

I halted. I turned to look at her. Her face looked like it was about to break into tears. I turned back to my opponent. I couldn't back down. This was my fight, my purpose.

"I knew we'd meet again, Arek. A pleasure, as always." I growled, the sound coming from deep in my throat, an animalistic challenge to my opponent.

"You… will… die…" He laughed. My eyes turned.

"Oh dear me, you're so far along, aren't you? You must truly hate me, little Al Bhed boy, to nearly be in my grasp so quickly… did you even question why you received free passage here?" I frowned, and he must have taken it for permission to continue.

"Those fiends in the plain, they let you be on my command. Sin has chosen me, surely you see it! And I have learned to control the fiends within. I feel your power, Al Bhed… and when your rage turns you into a fiend, you'll be the greatest of them all! I will send you, my pet, to free Spira of its suffering, until I take control of Sin itself! And with Yunalesca gone, I will reign supreme forever!" Seymour burst into maniacal cackling, his head thrown back and his arms spread wide. The other were staring open mouthed behind me.

"A-Arek… W-What is he t-talking about?" Rikku got out. Seymour's eyes widened and his grin spread impossibly wide.

"You never told them? Oh, this is too wonderful!" He held his arms out towards me, as if displaying a piece of art. "This man," he continued, "your guardian, your friend, your lover," he leered at Rikku, now speaking just to her, "Is nothing more than an un-"

"That's ENOUGH!" I screamed out, gripping my blade impossibly tight. "Your business is with ME, you piece of shit! I'll… I'll make you pay… I'LL MAKE YOU PAY FOR WHAT YOU'VE DONE TO ME!" I charged, sword back. Seymour grinned and threw his arms wide. A shimmering translucent liquid poured from his fingertips, solidifying into four inch spikes. He stepped into a battle stance and cackled.

"Show me what you've become…"

Red blurred my vision as I crossed the field impossibly fast, my sword flashing across his body. Sparks flew as Seymour's nails blocked and deflected the blade. I spun through and cleaved down on his head, but his nails formed an X and caught it as he kicked my chest. I flipped backwards and used my right hand to plant and landed in a crouch, snarling.

"Die…"

It was hard to close my mouth, and I realized my teeth were growing into fangs. And charged back in, swinging with both hands, each blow aimed to remove the bastard's organs. I screeched inhumanly as he blocked and held the blade tight, leaning forward and snapping at him. He laughed delightedly and slashed across my chest, leaving five red lines.

"Ah, you're so close to being mine now, just a little more…"

I snarled again and struck harder, trying to draw out every bit of power I had. The nails refused to break or even crack. Again and again I rained blows on Seymour, feeling my skin peel away to expose scales beneath it but not caring, so long as he died. Using what may have been my last bit of battle instinct, I faked high and right, but spun to my left and leveled the blade at his throat. I stood panting right by his side, the edge of my sword pressed against his jugular. He turned his head just a little and smiled.

"Well played my pet, well played… You're so close now… surely you didn't think that blade could pierce me though? Oh well, no matter. I invite you to take my life now…" He paused.

"Of course, if you do, you might lose something else…" He grinned maniacally as fire engulfed his arms, and he straightened them. A burning column raced down and across the platform…

Right at Rikku.

She was too stunned to move, and I saw her eyes shining in the firelight. Her face was tinted a soft orange that was getting more and more red. Time seemed to stop for me.

* * *

_"Sin isn't our fault! We want to get rid of it too, you know! And what's more... hey, you're Al Bhed too?" she exclaimed, staring right at me. I looked at her questioningly for a second. _

_"I am?"_

* * *

"_How do you know the others didn't hear?" _

"_Because you said them so quietly." _

"_Then how did you hear them?" _

_Rikku turned slightly pink, and became very interested in her shoes at this. When she spoke, it was very quietly. "I never left your side."_

* * *

"_Rikku, are you…"_

_But before I could finish my question, she spun on me and knocked me backwards into the grass, landing on top of me. She put her arms around my neck and cried into my shoulder. I just held her close and let her get it out, rubbing small circles on her back to comfort her. She tried to speak after a few minutes._

"_Today… I thought… I lost you… I've never been more scared… I… I…"_

"_Rikku…"_

"_No! I need to say this. If I lost you I don't know what I'd do…"_

"_Rikku, E muja oui. I love you. With all my heart. No matter what happens, you'll never lose me. I'll always be right here for you." _

* * *

"_Sorry, I'm not usually that thick. I'm still just a little shook up I guess. Eeep! Look at the time," she exclaimed, glancing down at her watch. "I gotta run or my dad'll filet me! Nice to meet you Kalykku! Can we hang out some time?" she asked._

"_I'd like that."_

* * *

"_I'd protect her with my life, Cid."_

* * *

"_I told my parents I'd avenge them. Sin's back, you know. Now I have the chance."_

"_Baby you don't have to do that!" she exclaimed. "They'd love you either way, you know that!" _

* * *

"_It's a promise ring, babe. You don't have to answer now."_

"_I don't care! It's yes and it always will be. Don't forget it."_

"_I won't."_

* * *

"_Tell her, Arek. She thinks you're dead. Rin told her you died. He said she was grieving for weeks."_

* * *

"_Kid, Seymour didn't take yer life. Ya did that to yerself with all this revenge. You've been livin' every day to get back at somethin', and where'd it get ya? Yer gonna go when he goes, but yer never gonna be at peace till ya make peace with yerself, and till ya find real reason fer livin' outside'a bitterness."_

* * *

"_Rikku, how ever long you want me here for you, I'll be there, okay? No matter what."_

"_Hmm… How about forever then?" she said smiling before stretching up to give me a peck on the nose. With that she left the room, the storm outside forgotten. I smiled as well, looking through the empty doorway where she had just departed._

"_Forever it is then."_

* * *

I felt the air itself rend around me, a static tearing noise all that was left behind. The whole world was in slow motion, but I couldn't stop. Suddenly, I was in front of her, arms spread wide, as her stunned eyes met mine. My fiend mouth smiled softly.

"I promised," I whispered softly. Her eyes widened as recognition overcame her, and she might have screamed out. All I could her was roaring fire, all I felt was pain, and all I saw was darkness.

* * *

_I was on the hill again. I wondered if this was the Farplane, for I was sure I was dead. I heard the voice again._

_"You found what gives you control." I nodded brokenly._

_"It was her," I whispered. "It's been her all along, I should have seen it… If I had only…" _

_"Enough, child. You cannot change the past, but you may carve yourself a new future. Do not bow your head in grief; you've saved your humanity. Finish what you stayed here for. Look at me and learn my name, and we will finish this fight together…"_

_I looked up. I knew where to look now, something inside me told me so. "Do not bow your head."_

_Two glowing red eyes greeted me, long and angular with no iris or pupil, just solid glowing red. Suddenly another pair opened, and more until eight sets burned into my soul. The first set moved out of the gloom, and the moonlight and torchlight together illuminated the great Aeon._

_It was a dragon; no other word could explain what I saw as I stood before it. Its teeth were bone white and as tall as me, and the maw was immense enough to swallow several shoopuf whole. Two long whiskers trailed from its snout back into the gloom, and a shaggy hairy mane surrounded the very top of its neck. The other seven heads moved closer as well, their necks connecting to the hills themselves in the distance._

_It was then that the hills shifted, and I knew this was its body. Eight tails writhed far in the distance, the ends glinting in the moonlight like metal. No summoning short of Sin itself could take this creature on in battle. The first head leaned in close, so close that it blocked my field of vision._

_"Say it!" it roared, "Say it and finish what you started!"_

_Now I knew its name._

* * *

I felt that my body was burned beyond recognition. I could barely hear, but I could make out the screams. His laughter. Her grief. I heard the wailing of pyreflies, and drew them close to me, like I had in Baaj when Auron walked in. They wailed louder and louder, and I felt the dead skin breaking off, the scales peeling back and my senses returning. My mouth was normal again. I rose shakily out of the ashes surrounding me, my head lowered, and turned, raising my eyes to meet the disbelieving face of the fallen Maester.

"I-Impossible! T-This is MY domain! MINE!" I smiled darkly, refusing to respond to his words. I gripped my blade tighter, closed my eyes, and whispered the release for my Aeon.

_"__Shooshi shimasu… Yamata no Orochi…"_

The blade burst into golden light, growing slightly as the edge blurred. When it faded, the sword's edge was jagged, as if a few dozen down-turned spear points made up the blade. The points faced the guard, which was made of four reptilian fingers with claws, bent to make a rough circle. The back of the handle was shaped like an entire grasping claw.

I said nothing; there was nothing I could think of to say. In an instant I had crossed the distance between us, the blade flashing once more. His claws went to block and shattered on impact. He cried out in fury and swung at me, the claws regrowing, but they were blocked and I struck again, drawing a deep line down his chest. More liquid poured out, healing him and encasing his skin. He leapt, floating and hurling fireballs and shards of ice. I silently cleaved them in two, staring up at him. I crouched and leapt, sword high, and struck down hard. All the shimmering liquid was pouring upward to deflect the blow; I could see the sweat on his brow as he strained, before it shattered. Blood flew everywhere. I landed facing him, several yards away. His body dropped, a long, deep, gaping wound along his whole front. Seymour tried to stand, slipped, and tried again. He rose shakily to his knees, then to his feet, gasping and panting.

"Y-You… t-think it's o-over… d-do you?" he rasped, hacking up blood. "If I d-die… you die with me." I nodded.

"I know." He managed a weak grin.

"Revenge… is truly a beautiful thing, is it not…?"

"This isn't for revenge," I said quietly. He glared. I turned, looking into the eyes of the girl I loved. She looked back, face still in shock, her hands shaking. I could see the unspoken question in her gaze, and the hope in her eyes. I nodded softly, and she gasped, her knees nearly giving out, but I saw something else in her eyes now. Understanding. Acceptance. Love. She knew, and she loved me still. That was why I fought, and that was why I would win. I felt my power swell, and I knew I had been given the strength for once last overdrive. The blade crackled a poisonous green, and I turned back to Seymour, pointing it straight at him.

"This is to protect the one I love. _Gran Rey Cero_," I whispered.

Yamata no Orochi, the last Aeon blade, shattered in my grasp as jagged green light tore across the platform. Seymour's screams were drowned out by the roar of the blast, which struck him square in the chest before overwhelming his entire person. His shadow rippled before dissolving inside the overdrive blast, which incinerated even the pyreflies that bore his memory. It was over. Seymour was gone.

The hilt fell from my shaking hand as I fell to my knees. I felt Rikku's arms around me and I leaned into her. My body felt like a helium balloon, trying to float away while I desperately clung to the earth. I looked up at her tearstained face, whispering to her.

"Rikku… I'm so sorry…"

"K-Kaly-"

"I didn't want to hurt you, I didn't know what to do…" She nodded brokenly and hugged tighter, whispering back.

"You saved me, again… I forgive you…" I saw the pyreflies leaking from my skin as I hugged her too and tried to hold them back. Just a few more minutes!

"I love you…" I leaned up to kiss her one last time, pressing my lips to hers and passing on the lifetime of love and passion I wished I could have given her. She kissed back with the bittersweet love that only comes from receiving one last chance to say goodbye.

"I love you too," she choked out, clinging close. I smiled softly even as I felt my body dissolve around me. I reached to wipe away her tears, one last time, but with no arms I could not. I was time to go.

* * *

_I found myself on that hill once again, only in the bright of morning. The sun was in the sky and the pots around me were cracked and in pieces. I looked around, trying to find why I was here. Was this my eternity? Suddenly I heard his voice behind me again._

_"I'm very proud of you, child."_

_I whipped around and found not a dragon, but a man. He was in his late teens, with spiky green hair. He wore some kind of two piece robe, tied with a sash, and he wore wooden sandals with socks. His clothes were a dark silvery blue, and dragon heads seemed to snake across at all angles, their necks trailing behind before fading into the fabric. If I stared long enough, it seemed that they were coming right out of the clothes. There would have to be seven heads on his garment, for the sword in his hand was clearly the last one._

_His blade was far different than what I had fought with. It was fang shaped, and the guard was an enormous dragon's head, its mouth wide open. The wide blade protruded from the mouth, the whole weapon shades of molten silver. The handle was wrapped in black, and a dark chain fell a short distance from the back, ending in a charm shaped like the number eight. He grinned as he saw me eying it and spun the blade in his grip once._

_"This is my shape had you trained with me for years and years. My full power is immense, but you didn't need it, and I don't give my power lightly," he explained. I nodded slowly, asking the million dollar question._

_"Why am I here? I thought I died." Yamata, for I supposed we were on a first name basis after that fight, nodded back._

_"You are, child. But you have another option than the Farplane now." I tilted my head._

_"What? Why? How?" He laughed, a deep but joyous laugh that nearly made me smile along._

_"One at a time, child. I am broken, your attack was not meant to be channeled through me. I added enough strength to destroy that foul creature, and what I have left allows us to be here one last time. You know all Aeons hold dominion over something, do you not? Shiva over ice, Ixion over lightning, and so forth?"_

_I nodded again._

_"Do you know my domain, child?"_

_I shook my head, and Yamata grinned gently._

_"Time," he whispered. My eyes widened. _

_"Do you-"_

_"Yes," I cut in; deep down I knew what he was asking. "Yes, please!"_

_He smiled and held the blade sideways, wrapping his hand around the chain, the eight I now knew to represent infinity dangling just outside his palm._

_"We'll see each other again," he said softly, and with a tug he snapped the chain._

_The world went white._

* * *

so, a short explanation based on my understanding of the legend. Yamata no Orochi was a snake with 8 heads, 8 tails, and it was so big that it was 8 mountains long, with forests actually growing on it. Susa-no-Ō, a japanese god expelled from heaven, wanted to marry a girl who was to be sacrificed to Orochi. They got Orochi drunk with 8 vats of refined sake, then Susa-no-Ō killed him and pulls the sword Kusanagi-no-Tsurugi from its corpse, which is basically the Japanese Excalibur. because this happened so long ago, i made Orochi's dominion time, which makes sense considering how old he must be.

the idea behind Yamata no Orochi as a zanpakuto (for anyone else who knows/likes bleach) kind of bled into this fic. i want to write an OC fic that uses (laughs) my zanpakuto, but i've got no premise yet. so i wanted to use my little friend here. he's holding his bankai form at the end, fyi. i drew the three attacks from FFX, so i had to improvise for the fic and use cero as the overdrive or everyone would be confused (razzia, passado, and camisade are the "real" attacks). there's others as well: since the release command is "consume," each blow sucks a small amount or reiatsu, and in bankai each blow goes up as squares until 8 (so 1x drain, 4x, 9, 16, etc until 64), with a final bankai either being an 80 sec time stop or the materialization of the dragon itself. now if i could have a premise as fleshed out as the blade.. T.T

aaaanyways, getting back from my rabbit trail.. ; i'll have a short epilogue up soon. i've got 3 other fics and 2 of them desperately need attention. i'll put all my thanks/acknowledgements in the final post.

ja ne!


	24. Epilogue

_A boy of about seven stood in a room full of people. The two coffins before him were empty; the bodies had never been found. His parents had been attacked while at sea and Sin had taken the whole boat down. He wouldn't cry though. When he had first found out, he cried. But now he wouldn't. He was a big boy now. He was on his own. He had no other family; it was time to grow up._

_His train of thought was interrupted when he felt a tap on his shoulder. Turning, he saw a young girl close to his age looking curiously at him. Her blond hair was up in cute pigtails, and she wore dark overalls which made her look like a very tiny mechanic._

_"Hiya. Ummm, did you know them?" The boy nodded a little._

_"Y-Yes… T-They were my parents," he sniffled, trying not to cry. The girl's eyes widened before she jumped forward and hugged him tightly. He gasped and tried to pull back._

_"H-Hey! What're you doing?"_

_"I'm really sorry… I lost my momma like that too," she said quietly. He stilled and looked at the girl hugging him, before slowly hugging back._

_"I'm sorry too…" She looked up at him and smiled weakly._

_"Daddy told me to remember the people we lose, but to honor them by living for them too. 'Memories are nice, but that's all they are,' that's what he says."_

_The boy frowned a little and thought to himself. He loved his mommy and daddy; and they had loved him. But if he spend his whole life mad at Sin over them… they'd both be really sad. He bravely smiled back at the girl just a little, nodding some._

_"Yeah, I think you're right…" She smiled more back and nodded, before suddenly grabbing his arm and pulling him toward the exit._

_"Of course I am! Now come on, let's do something fun so you'll feel better!"_

_"H-Hey, wait! I don't even know your name yet," the boy protested as he was dragged from the room. Their voices slowly faded in the ears of the transparent green haired man standing near the back of the room. He grinned and sheathed the sword he carried, propping it in the corner. The blade slowly became more solid as the man faded away._

_"You made the right choice, child... Goodbye... for now..."_

* * *

wow. i honestly can't believe it's finished. nearly 4 years in the making, with breaks of 6 or 7 months, and then one of 2 1/2 years. i know for a long time i never thought it would get done, either writer's block or some awful life event kept me from being inspired. it's odd to look back at the first chapters of this piece, from the summer before my junior year in high school. the writing style, tone, vocabulary, even the author's notes... so much has changed, and it's quite humbling in a way. i have new respect for writers who crank out stories several hundred thousand words long, or authors who do around 7 of them to re-write harry potter. i think i'll be reviewing more too, after realizing how good it feels to get them.

speaking of which, i want to thank everyone who reviewed this story. your comments helped me along the way, both in motivation and in inspiration. the 30 seconds to type a short comment can make a writer's whole day a thousand times better. i want to thank any of my former reviewers and readers who came back to this after my long hiatus. i've gotten no reviews from the old crowd, but if you came back to read how this ended, thank you. as of now this story has over 6,000 hits, which is barely anything for some people but a huge something to me. if you're one of those hits, thank you.

i once had a sequel planned, but that seems rather unlikely now. Hopefully Arek will live a happy life with his second chance, even if he crosses paths with Yamata again someday and learns to fight again. i'd like to think he'll settle down and see to some of those machina he was so good with as a toddler.

if you're interested, take a look at my other stories. some are old, but i'm into writing for Bleach now and i'm updating regularly there. see you all around!

* * *


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